March 08, (THEWILL) –Â The National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, has debunked reports of his purported resignation.
Addressing newsmen on Tuesday evening, Senator Akpanudedehe said he remains the National Secretary of the APC.
He insisted until he gets clear directives from the leader of the party, President Mohammadu Buhari, for him to resign his position, he will not succumb to second hand information alleged to have issued from the President.
Akpanudoedehe, who described the ongoing situation in the party as power play, said it is not unusual in a Political environment.
He maintained that he remains the secretary of the party pending further directives, adding that nobody is bigger than the party.
Speaking on his alleged resignation, Akpanudoedehe said, “I have read in the social media that I have resigned as Secretary of the APC. 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 a leader of the country. I am waiting for my national chairman to come back.
“We have done so much for this party. When we inherited this party, if you can recall, it was at its lowest ebb. We built the party and recovered a lot of grounds. We were able to register 41 million members. And we bought this secretariat of the party.
“We have been able to recover what we lost. We lost and brought in a lot of governors. All the States we lost, we brought in two weeks.
“We have been able to go round this country and the Constitution of the party has been reviewed, it was a difficult thing to do, we have done it in less than one year.
“We have done reconciliation, 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. So, we have done so much.
“And you will agree with me that when we came in, this place was like a dead zone. The secretariat was moved to a private home, but we were committed to what we were doing. I am stating here that that breaking news is not from me. I don’t know who announced it.”
Speaking on his relationship with Sani Bello, he said, “Our relationship is very cordial. I don’t have any load. I come in here and I leave. I have never changed my furniture. The photograph is official. I have not packed anything. I have not received any letter.
“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? and the answer is No. I am still the national secretary of the party.”
