… AS Akpanudoedehe Packs Out of Party Office
The National Secretary of the All Progressive Party Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee Sen. John James Akpanudoedehe has packed his things out of the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja.
Our correspondent who was at the APC Secretariat at Blantyre Street, Wuse 2, also observed the space officially reserved as car park him was vacant.
Investigation revealed that the Acting Chairman, Abubakar Sani Bello, held a meeting at the party secretariat.
A source who confided in our correspondent could not confirm whether Akpanudoedehe attended the meeting or not before packing out of the office.
The decision of the National Secretary to the ousted CECPC chairman, Mai Bala Buni, created room for speculation that that he may have resigned,
However, Akpanudoedehe debunked the media reports insisting he would resigned only if told to do so by the President who is the leader of the party.
He added that he was still waiting for his chairman, Gov Buni who was ousted from office on Monday through the reported fiat of a Presidential directive.
He said while speaking with journalists that since nobody is bigger than the party or the President, he will resign if asked to do so.
He stressed that he still remain the National Secretary of the CECPC.
He gave a seemingly detailed account of the achievements of the ousted CECPC in the response to reports of his resignation.
He said that the Buni-led CECPC has done so much for the party noting that what happened on Monday was not the first incident of power play in the party.
He said, “I have read in the social media that I have resigned as Secretary of the APC Caretaker Committee. I want to state that it is not true. I didn’t resign. If I have resigned, you would have seen my letter of resignation written by me. Someone cannot just say somebody is dead when he is alive.
“I am not bigger than the party, or bigger than the President who is the leader of the country. I am waiting for the National Chairman to come back.
“We have done so much this party. When we inherited this party, you will recall it was in its inglorious ebb. We built he party and we recover a lot of grounds. We have been able to register 41 million people.
“We also have bought this secretariat. We have been able to recover all be lost. All the states we lost, we brought back.
“We have been able to go round this country and amend the constitution in one year which was tough. We have done reconciliation, we have done ward, local governments and state congresses. And we are about to do the National Convention.
“This is not the first time you are seeing power play.
“I am waiting for the Chairman. If we have directive from the President that we should resign, we are not bigger than the President, we will do so, if we hear from him. Somebody cannot say go and announce he is resigning. Like MKO Abiola used to say you don’t shave someone’s head in his absence.
“I am stating here that that breaking news is not from me. I don’t know who announced it.
“Someone cannot say ‘the president said’. I have not received any letter from anywhere. As I said, nobody is bigger than the party. The issue is that, have I resigned? The answer is no. I am the National Secretary of the Party.”
