Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, National Secretary the All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has denied reports that he has resigned from office.

Some online reports claimed Akpanudoedehe also moved out all his belongings from the party secretariat located at Blantyre Street Wuse 2, Abuja.

However, Senator Akpanudedehe said he remains the National Secretary of the party and is presently waiting for the Chairman of the CECPC, Gov Mai Mala Buni, to return.

He said that 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.

The Akwa Ibom State-born politician dismissed what is currently going on in the party as power play which is not unusual in a Political environment even as he maintained that he still enjoy a cordial relationship with the Acting Chairman of the party, Gov Sani Bello.

He maintained that he remains the secretary of party pending further directive, adding that nobody is bigger than 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 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 me 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 build the party and recover 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.”

Continuing, Akpanudoedehe said: “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 received any letter from anywhere. As I said, nobody is bigger than the party. The issue is that, have resigned? And the answer is no. I am still the national secretary of the party”. (Based on reports by Daily Independent)

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