By Chidi Obineche
he had a rare access to the plum seat of Acting national chairman in the heady days that heralded the descent of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party into the abyss of opposition and decapitation. Assailed from all fronts, his exit saw the party cascading into a long- drawn crises that is still etched on its soul .Fresh from the deep wounds and lacerations the schism caused on the party, it sought to reorganize and inject more verve into its plans for the 2019 General Elections.
Prince Uche Secondus was hardly on the march, at least not in the open. He was also not in the reckoning as more gladiators from the South west geo- political zone seized the momentum. His name only popped up as a racer in the stony corners of the rumour mill. The rumour in time waxed in intensity and form, and by the last weeks of the jockeying, it was obvious that he was the man to beat. And many cried. Others took to their heels out of “ Spiritus Mundi”.
A roaring affirmation came on Sunday when he breasted the tape in a landslide. Which Midas or Prompter oiled his way back to the seat he left in chilly circumstances? Secondus held and romanced the fairy –tail. He lounged through the walls of power where and when it mattered even when there are walls that can’t be broken through power alone. He dined with the power that can break through those walls. He sensed that a second coming from the cooler is often far- fetched, stormy and dim my. But he knew that if he took the right step, danced the right music, and stayed in the right company, he was in for a fairy tale.
And now on a rebound, firmly sated, his crowd know that a place, and in this case a political party belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, proclaims it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, adores and loves it so radically that he sleeps and dreams with it. And as he slouches to a new day there is a pervading air of rite of passage through which his party will be reborn as one of strength and purpose. He Knows just like Jonathan Lockwood Huie also knew decades ago that “Success is failure recycled. Life is death reborn”.
Secondus came from the rear, died a little inside in order to be reborn and rise again, swam in the deep for a while to rebuild his muscles. A gaseous nebula has collapsed. This is how phoenixes are born. This is the day of the all conquering jackals. This is not the famed call of destruction and the destroyer.
This is the second coming. As Bernard Devoto wrote; “ This is the violet hour, the hour of hush and wonder, when the affectations glow and valour is reborn, when the shadows deepen along the edge of the forest and we believe that, if we catch carefully, at any moment we may see the unicorn”. He may have been the walrus, but not anymore. He has learnt a lot from yesterday. He is on a second chance; and as a “child” there is energy and hope. The spirit never really ends. The second coming goes with trumpets and ululation. The kite will perch, and the hawk will perch. A new journey may have just begun. An old party may have just gained new life to reach for her best.
He was born on March 22, 1955 in Andoni, Rivers State. He entered politics in 1978 and was the youth leader of the Rivers State chapter of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN. He was the acting chairman of the PDP from 2015 to 2016. He was also the second chairman of the Rivers state chapter of the party, a position he held for two terms and earned the sobriquet “Total Chairman”. In 2008, he was elected the National Organizing Secretary, holding office until 2012. Secondus was the pioneer Chairman of the Governing Board of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) He is married with children to Ene Belema.