Not All Politicians Are Dirty – Uche Secondus

A former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, tells OLUSOLA FABIYI what he’s been doing since leaving office, and how he started in politics at a young age.

Nothing has been heard from you since you left office as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party. What have you been doing?

I have maintained my lane. Before I joined politics, I was a private person, and I thank God for keeping me fit.

A politician cannot be a private person…

Yes, I am a politician, as you said. But let me tell you that I am a politician with a second address. I was doing something before I became a politician.  I have been involved in businesses for over forty years. I don’t know if you know Pere Ajunwa. Both of us ran the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce. So, I’m not new to business

Where were you trained?

I was trained by the London Chamber of Commerce. Pere and I ran the chamber for five years.

Is that all?

Both of us were also business partners. We were both granted an import license to import chemicals and other components that we supplied to NAFCON and other companies. People don’t know much about me because I’m not a noise maker.

But you are a rich man?

I am not a beggar. My first house in my hometown is a large, two-storey building that houses the entire extended family. I moved into the old GRA Port Harcourt, a place regarded as a European quarter, in 1986. I bought the house from Bata Nigeria Limited that year.

Even as a full-time politician, you were running your business?

Let me tell you what you don’t know. I have been around for a long time during the military and political era. Yes, my business continued to run while I was fully active in politics. Immediately I left office, I returned fully to my business.

What exact business are you into?

I am into real estate, retail, insurance, oil, and gas services. In politics, even if you are a saint, because this is Nigeria, you’re tagged and blackmailed. In all the offices I have held, I served meritoriously without blemish. And the records are there for anybody to cross-check.

But we heard that party officials collect money from aspirants and candidates during primaries and elections. Are you saying you didn’t do this?

The majority of those I supervised in their primaries and handed over tickets to them are still alive. Just go and ask them. I never collected anything from them. Go and ask people like Governors like Seyi Makinde, Bala Mohammed, and Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso during his second coming. Go and ask them. I can even give you their telephone numbers.

Even when you were the chairman of the biggest opposition party at the time, from 2017 to 2021, you didn’t collect any bribes from the politicians?

I have asked you to go and ask the governors if I was collecting money from them.

You were the PDP state chairman in Rivers State in 1999…

(Cuts in) Yes, in 1999, I was elected unanimously, even against my will, as the state chairman of the PDP to take over from Marshall Harry. I served for 9 years in office because the election was not held on time.

I remember. You moved from there to national.

That’s true. After my tenure in the state lapsed, I was offered the position of national organising secretary. I did very well, and that led all the governors and stakeholders to make me the deputy national chairman. While I was acting National Chairman after Adamu Muazu left, I was invited by the EFCC following a petition by Kassim Afegbua. They investigated me thoroughly over campaign logistics, vehicles, and all that. But nothing was found on me. I was given a clean bill of health.

But your name appeared on the looters’ list released by Lai Mohammed then?

That’s true. When the then federal government’s spokesman, Lai Mohammed, published what they called the ‘looters list,’ and my name featured, I was bold enough to approach the court to challenge it. After two years, I won the case. It was well publicised. There was no evidence against me. It will interest you to know that I was the only one who challenged the FG and Lai Mohammed among all those whose names were on that list.  Look, not all politicians are dirty.

So, you are a saint?

I didn’t say so, but I am not dirty.

So, you don’t also take kickbacks on contract awards?

I have never. Go and check all the agencies where I have served. I was chairman of Port-Harcourt Flour Mills for 12 years, and I was also a member of the School-to-Land Authority under the military. The agency was primarily set up to train young school leavers to be self-sufficient without necessarily seeking white-collar jobs. I was the chairman of the National Insurance Commission. Once I was appointed, I resigned from my position at the International Energy Insurance, where I was a co-founder and first chairman. I was a member of the board of directors of Nigeria Railways, and I was also the first chairman of the National Identity Management Commission, where I even forgot to collect my allowances. I have never held any executive positions in which contracts are awarded. I had nothing to do with the day-to-day running of the places. I also served with retired General TY Danjuma on the Presidential Committee on North-East Initiative. I am a different species of politician.

People were saying your recently inaugurated building was massive and that you probably got the money to build it from the proceeds of corruption.

If I tell you that it took me 14 years to build that house, you won’t believe it. At one point, I abandoned it due to a lack of funds. I am a totally different politician. I don’t do what most politicians do to survive. I don’t blackmail. I am a politician with a difference: I do charity and offer scholarships. But you will never hear me make noise about them because I am doing them for the sake of God. I am an elder in my church, and I believe in laying good examples for the younger generation to follow. It will interest you to also know that I served as a consultant to the Bayelsa State Government during the tenure of Col. Edor Obi, the last military administrator before the return to democracy. I have been around for a long time. I started politics early in life.

What was the cost of the building?

I don’t even know, because I wasn’t writing it down. Let me also tell you that I bought some of the materials many years ago.

Were you in the defunct NPN and the NRC?

I started as a youth leader during the NPN days. At NRC, I was the state Publicity Secretary and later became the deputy state chairman. And during the Sani Abacha era, I was the state chairman of DPN in Rivers State.  Ask any reasonable politician in Port-Harcourt, I usually come in with my finance to support my preferred candidate.

Who are your witnesses?

Chief Rufus Adah George and others will testify to this assertion. I served under Dr Peter Odili as the state chairman of the PDP. he asked me what I wanted, and I told him to pave the road to my village, Andoni, and Opobo, and those roads were constructed to the glory of God.

What’s special about politics? You have been there for long?

Service to the people. That’s what interested me. I am still interested in serving the people. It isn’t for any pecuniary gain.

Are you happy with the current state of the party you led before, the PDP?

I will speak on that at the appropriate time. For now, let us all be watching.

Be watching? Is the party even dying?

I am sure it won’t die. But as I said, let us keep watching.