Why I resigned as APC convention secretary - Senator Uwajumogu

- The former APC convention secretary explained why resigned his position

- He said he took the decision so as to have time to attend to family matters and other personal responsibilities

- The APC chieftain said he was not forced to resign due to cases of fraud against him as alleged in some quarters

The secretary of the national convention planning committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Benjamin Uwajumogu, who resigned his membership of the committee on Friday, June 1, has disclosed that he took the decision to attend to family matters.

Uwajumogu said he did not resign because of any case of fraud as alleged in some quarters, The Nation reports.

Legit.ng gathered Uwajumogu told a news conference on Saturday, June 2, that he resigned to enable him to attend the graduation of two of his children at the university in England which coincides with the June 23 date of the convention.

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According to him, when he accepted to serve, it was with the belief that the convention will hold on May 14 and later June 2.

He also said that he is not unaware that Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha has allegedly spent the last two weeks in Abuja plotting to have him removed from the committee, with threats that he will leave the party if he is not replaced.

Uwajimogu who is one of the APC chieftains in Imo state that have been having a running battle with the incumbent governor of the state Rochas Okorocha over the recently conducted congresses said the governor has been doing everything possible to implicate him.

He said he is aware of some other social media reports that he was forced to resign over financial misappropriation, saying his resignation will clear the air on some of the accusations against him.

“I want to announce to you that yesterday, I tendered my resignation as the Secretary of the APC Convention Planning Committee and the resignation was accepted last night by the national chairman of the party.

“The reason why I resigned, primarily is that when I was appointed, the date for the national convention, as we were informed, was to be on May 14. Eventually, that date was moved to June 2 and there were hopes that the convention would hold between June 2 and 9. However, the date has now been moved to June 23 and it will conflict with my family activities and responsibilities.

“For example, two of my children are graduating from the university in England within this month and I have a responsibility to be there and I have some other jobs at hands too.

“So, I decided that since I won’t have the time for this convention, I should resign so that the position can be given to somebody who has the time. It is a decision that I took by myself. In my letter, I thanked the national chairman and the convention committee for all the support I received while I was here”.

Speaking on his relationship with Governor Okorocha, he said: “My relationship with him is not a personal thing. It is something that all of us in Imo state are opposed to the way government in Imo state is being run.

“Our opposition to that is something that is based on principle; based on the fact that 95% of Imo citizens and indeed south easterners are not happy with what is happening in Imo state. South east citizens are ashamed that the only state we, APC, have in the region is being run the way it is in the past three years and for me, I did not have a choice than to detach myself from that government.

“As a matter of fact, I am happy now that I have resigned. I am aware that the governor is supporting some southeast citizens to run for offices zoned to the region and so now that I have resigned, nobody will accuse me of manipulating the process”.

The senator dismissed claims that his exit may threaten the convention saying the committee had concluded virtually all arrangements to hold the exercise despite having received only N13 million so far for its activities.

“Now that I have resigned, I can only hope that my governor, Rochas Okorocha, will spend more time in Imo state attending to the various issues that he has created for himself because in the last two weeks, he has been here in Abuja running around for the convention and trying to put only people that are favourable to his policies.

“Okorocha has always threatened to leave the party if the congresses were not reversed. I hear he has threatened to leave if my position was not taken….This started more than two weeks ago and it is just a coincidence because I had made up my mind to leave. I am just hoping that now that I have left, he will return to Owerri. He has 27 hospitals he said he has built which have been overtaken by weeds. Imo state is a massive basket of fraud and I am very sure that the EFCC have their records.

“It is very clear today, that this is no longer an Imo issue but a southeast issue. It is very clear now that the entire southeast has lost confidence in the leadership of Rochas Anayo Okorocha and all we are saying is that Nigerians should take note that we no longer have him as our leader.

“My appointment was by the NWC and nobody has asked me to leave this position. The NWC met yesterday and there was nowhere in their meeting where I was asked to resign. It is a decision I made by myself. However, in any decision you take, there must be political consequences”.

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Meanwhile, the national publicity secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi confirmed the resignation but dismissed reports that the former secretary was forced to resign as a way of acquiescing to the demands of his state governor, Rochas Okorocha who had threatened to dump the ruling party should his request for a new Scribe be turned down.

“It is not a tradeoff. To the best of my knowledge, the reasons he gave were personal and the National Working Committee has appointed somebody else, Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba. I do not know how that can be a tradeoff because if it is so, I think his replacement should have been another person from Imo but the new appointee is from Cross River,” he said.

Legit.ng previously reported that Senator George Akume, representing Benue Northwest, called on Nigerians to keep faith with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Akume, in a Democracy Day message by his media aide, Torhile Uchi, said the APC-led federal government is on track in fixing the economy and return the country to the path of greatness, The Nation reports.

He urged his constituents to celebrate democracy despite the challenges of nationhood as there is no alternative to democracy.

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Source: Legit.ng