Mr. Secondus corrupt past and his association with other prominent people from River’s state will keep voters away from voting for PDP—thereby guaranteeing APC re-election victory. Premium times is a Northern Nigeria newspaper. In its 2016 news article titled “EFCC arrests former PDP acting Chairman, Uche Secondus” this article documented series of criminal activities that led to Secondus arrest. One of those illegal activities by Chairman Secondus was receiving buses— [this was based on document obtained from EFCC.]
Given above report, who will vote for a party led by Chairman Secondus? In my view, I cannot see it. Chairman Secondus symbolizes everything that is wrong with corruption in Nigeria. Corruption is one of the major reasons Nigeria is not a successful country. Corruption increases inequality and places hardship on the citizens of Nigeria.
In Nigeria, inequality is noticeable in every community. There is no middle class in Nigeria. People who live in Nigeria are either rich or poor. As a result, violence crimes have emerged all over the country. Boko Haram, the Northern terror group came about because of inequality in the distribution of wealth in Nigeria. According western and Nigerian media report, the terror group has killed over 500,000 Nigerians and drove 8 million out of their homes.
Today in Nigeria, reports of daily killings as a result of hardship due to corrupt politician like Chairman Secondus run in the 100s. And over the past 7 years, kidnapping for ransom has skyrocketed, ethnic violence is rising, and unemployment among all age groups remained very high. All these can be traced to corruption by Nigerian politicians.
Meanwhile, there has been a report of Chairman Secondus networth rising. According to several reports, Mr. Secondus net worth when he became PDP chairman in 2016 was less than $500, 000. Today, Chairman Secondus net worth is estimated to be $5-10 million. What brought this rising income into the pocket of Mr. Secondus. It is corruption.
In 2018, and according to cable news report, Chairman Secondus was accused of receiving exotic cars in the amount of N1.2 billion. The Nation newspaper quoted efcc sources of crediting Mr. Secondus on spending N1.28 billion to acquire exotic vehicle. This raises one question: can a party with Uche Secondus as the party chairman win presidential election?
No way!
Integrity defines voters. Nigerian voters are going to scrutinize all candidates for public offices before elections. One of the laws of political gravity is that when a party in power is mismanaging the country, the opposition party wins. That means 2023 is for PDP to recapture the presidency of Nigeria. But with Uche Secondus as PDP chairman, that hope is slowing fading away. And that is why PDP must replace Mr. Secondus if the party wants to win 2023 presidential election.