The news rocking the All progressive Congress (APC) at the moment is that of the resignation of the party’s immediate past secretary to.
Mr AkpanUdoedehe tenderd his resignation letter to the party on June 4, 2022.
The letter was tendered to the APC chairman in his ward, Offot Ward 6, Uyo.
He is leaving the party to NNPP.
The former national secretary has served the party for close to two decades, from the days of the defunct ACN and later APC he was the leading voice in the state representing the party.
The former APC National secretary wants to run for the governorship of Akwa Ibom Stat but has faced a hurdle along his path that made the reality of that expectation quite impossible.
He has been involved in a battle with a former governor of the state, senator and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and APC presidential aspirant, Godswill Obot Akpabio and the battle was over the control of the party structure in the state.
A faction of the APC in Akwa Ibom that is loyal to Mr Akpanudoedehe was chased out of office under controversial circumstances by a man, Stephen Ntukekpo, who had forged the results of the APC Congress in Akwa Ibom to get a favorable court judgement at a Federal High Court, Abuja.
Mr Ntukekpo is backed by Mr Akpabio.Mr Akpanudoedehe had gone to the Court of Appeal to challenge the of the judgement lower Court, but his efforts proved to be futile due to the massive support Mr Akpabio was having from the APC leadership at the National level.
The Akpabio loyalists during the APC state governor primaries overpowered Mr Akpanudoedehe and got Akanimo Udofia, a man who joined the APC in less than a month, to be elected the 2023 governorship candidate of the party in Akwa Ibom.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, however, did not monitor the primary that produced Mr Udofia.
The commission has, therefore, refused to recognise the candidate.
“The decision to part ways with the APC is a tough one,” Mr Akpanudoedehe, a former senator, said in his resignation letter.
“But leadership entails adherence to the wishes of the vast majority of associates, allies and supporters who have shown fidelity over time and have now witnessed the obduracy the APC is handling the candidate selection processes in Akwa Ibom State,” he said.
He said, “Our greater goal of providing service to the people of our dear state remains sacrosanct.”
“I will contest the 2023 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State,” the former senator said on Monday.
“I am going to the New Nigeria Peoples Party.”
Now the question is, does the exit of the former National Secretary have the potential to affect the party negatively in the state? Given that he was a major face in the state when it came to representing APC.
