PDP decides: How Uche Secondus emerged.

The PDP national elective convention has come and gone but the intrigues and behind the scenes maneuverings that took place before and during the convention continue to be a subject of interest.
The fallouts is still generating ripples in the political arena. If nothing else, it more that sealed the position of governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as a king maker of sorts in the Peoples Democratic Party.

In the beginning, during the battle for the leadership of the party between the Ali Modu Sheriff faction and the Makarfi faction, Wike has moved in and effectively mobilized the Makarfi faction to ensure victory at the Supreme Court. There are unconfirmed reports that he singlehandedly funded the legal costs. Most of the PDP governors at that stage were sceptical of the chances of Markarfi. Because of this, most of them were noncommittal financially.

Infact, without Wike, Sheriff would have won at the Supreme Court. During this period a gale of defections hit the PDP as many more of their members having lost all hopes defected to other parties. Those who could,  even formed new parties but Wike soldiered on. According to reports, even Governor Ayo Fayose was making preparations to exit the party the moment Supreme court rules Sheriff as winner.

It was also during this period that a special bond was formed between Wike and some founding fathers of PDP like IBB and co who were impressed with his fighting spirit and dedication.

Fast forward to preparations for the convention. All facts point to the Southwest region as favoured to produce the National Chairman initially. Even Goodluck Jonathan favored them. But when the attitude of their party leaders during the court battles was scrutinized, some leaders in the South East and South South felt that rewarding them with the position of National chairman was more like celebrating cowardice. Again security reports showed that many of the PDP leaders in the Southwest were playing a double game, PDP in the morning and APC in the night. 

Wike and some Southeast and South south leaders began the move to present Uche Secondus as the consensus candidate of the two regions. Raymond Dokpesi was just there as a distraction according to reports.

But the Southwest was not giving up. Their leaders reached out to their northern counterparts and got some solid assurances. Also they had a very good argument. Since 1999, no Southwesterner has ever been a PDP national chairman.

Everything changed three days to the convention. Wike decisively, without wasting time mobilized massive funds and advanced the argument that North and the East had always made better political allies. He specifically impressed on some northern leaders like Markafi, Sambo and IBB that most of the Yoruba PDP leaders could not be trusted . In the meeting, examples of north and east political alliances were presented as the perfect combo for political advancement. 

Each northern delegate was given ten thousand dollars according to Sahara Reporters. Their southern counterparts got five thousnad dollars each.

When the Yoruba Leaders learnt of the deal, they started shopping for their own consensus candidate to improve their chances of victory. As it turned out Wike and Secondus have done their home work too well. Congratulation to Uche Secondus.

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