No one can force me to step down, my tenure ends in December —Secondus

The embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Prince Uche Secodus, has vowed to resist any attempt to remove him from office before the expiration of his tenure in December, 2021.

Secondus, who was reacting to an order by a High Court in Calabar, Cross River State, mandating him to vacate his office, insisted that he is still the Chairman of the party as the mandate given to him at the party’s National Convention in Abuja on December 9, 2017, remains intact until his four-year tenure expires in December this year.

He made the clarifications following his absence at the party’s 92nd National Executive Committee meeting held at its national secretariat in Abuja on Saturday amid speculations that he had been removed from office.

In a statement made available to Ripples Nigeria by his media team, Secondus explained that he only stayed away from the meeting to obey the interim order from Calabar High Court.

Read also: PDP governors deny calling for Secondus’ resignation

The statement titled, “Secondus has not stepped down, just obeying Calabar court interim order,’ and signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Ike Abonyi, reads in part:

“The media office of Prince Uche Secondus wishes to correct erroneous news circulating that he has stepped down as the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“Prince Secondus, by his unavoidable absence at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting on Saturday, was merely obeying an interim order from Cross River State High Court.

“As a law-abiding citizen, who has been an adherent of the rule of law as a basis for democracy, he stayed away out of respect for the courts.

“Prince Secondus’ four-year mandate to lead the party, given on December 10, 2017, ends by December, 2021.

“By this release, the Prince Uche Secondus’ media office wishes to urge media houses and members of the public, particularly beloved members of PDP, to disregard any news suggesting that he has stepped down.”

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