… As gov Bello summons emergency NEC meeting next week
Senator James Akpanudoedehe, Secretary to the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked report of his resignation as a member of the CECPC.
Niger State governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, had resumed at the Buhari house Monday as acting Chairman Caretaker Committee amidst commotion on the alleged sack of Yobe State governor, Mai Mala Buni, by president Muhammadu Buhari, and performed some official functions of the party.
A report of Sen. Akpanudoedehe’s resignation had broken Tuesday barely twenty-four hours after a surprise change of leadership at the national secretariat of APC.
Akpanudoedehe was spotted on Monday, storming out of a meeting of the caretaker committee being chaired by the new acting governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State.
Buni, who was away in Dubai on medical leave, was said to have been relieved of his duty after president Buhari approved recommendation of a faction of APC governors who reported to the president that he (Buni) was not planning to ensure that the much demanded national convention hold on March 26 as rescheduled.
Though Senator Akpanudoedehe’s letter of resignation was yet to be sighted, sources at the national Secretariat hinted our correspondent that the plan for his resignation has been in the pipeline since Monday when news of Buni’s sack broke.
Beaming with anger on hearing the news of his resignation, the APC Secretary drove back to the national Secretariat where he addressed members of the press corps refuting his reported resignation.
Akpanudoedehe insisted his boss (Buni) remains the authentic chairman of APC and was only away on medical trip and would soon come back to resume his position.
The secretary maintained that president Muhammadu Buhari has not communicated to anyone that he has sacked Buni.
He said he and Buni would only leave if and when they hear directly from the president.
” Someone cannot say the president said. I have not receive 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,” he said.
” I have read in social media that I have resigned as Secretary of the APC. I want to state that it is not true that I didn’t resigned. If I have resign, 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 a leader of the country. I’m waiting for me national chairman to come back.
” 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,” Akpanudoedehe insisted.
On his relationship with the acting Chairman, he said it was cordial.
Meanwhile, the acting Chairman Caretaker committee of APC, Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello, has summoned an extraordinary meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, for next week.
Speaking to journalists after a brief meeting of the CECPC, gov. Bello said the Committee has approved the report of the zoning Committee which was submitted Monday, adding that the report will be made public “anytime from now.”
“The report of the zoning formula has been submitted and adopted and it will be release any moment from now. I mean the zoning formula.
“Hopefully by next week, the NEC meeting will hold”, he said.
When asked whether the former CECPC Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe is still part of the new leadership, the Gov. Bello replied, “ask him”.
