256 APC Ward Chairmen demand Senator Udoedgehe’s removal as National Secretary
256 ward chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Akwa Ibom State, have called for the removal of John Udoedehe as the national caretaker committee secretary of the party.
The ward chairmen, who made the call yesterday at a press briefing in Uyo, said Mr. Udoedehe diverted materials meant for the party’s ward congress to his house on Saturday, 31st July, 2023.
Speaking at the press briefing, Saviour Williams, the state chairman of Akwa Ibom APC ward chairmen forum, said that all the guidelines for the congress were flouted by Udoedehe.
“The party belongs to all of us not to a group of people or an individual. I have seen a lot of marginalization. Individuals hijacking the structure of the party. We want to state it categorically that there was no congress in the entire 329 wards in Akwa Ibom state. There was absolutely none.
“And that the ward congress committee was never constituted in readiness to that congress. Nobody was interviewed. Nothing was done to indicate preparations.
“We also want to state that the list of aspirants for the ward congress was not published neither were the aspirants screened as stated in the constitution and stipulated in the congress guidelines published on 18 July by then publicity secretary of the party, Mr. Nkereuwem Enyongekere”, he said.
Mr. William further said the 256 ward chairmen unanimously pass a vote of no confidence on Udoedehe and called for his removal as national caretaker committee secretary of the party.
“We pass a vote of no confidence on the national caretaker committee secretary, Senator John Akpan Udoedehe based on his biased role in the failed congress. We therefore call for his removal as national caretaker secretary”, he added.
When contacted, Udoedehe said that the ward chairmen are aggrieved because the lost the at the ward congress.
He said that the aggrieved ward chairmen are sponsored by those who have refused to accept the reconciliation efforts of the party.
“These people who are complaining, their names were written. They did not contest for any election. People keep asking me what is my interest. My interest is let politics return to the grassroots.
“People have been elected as ward party officers and people who lost are talking nonsense. I’m not even supposed to respond to them. They say I hijacked the materials but I was not even in Uyo during the congress because it was a national Congress and we were here in the situation room to monitor the whole Nigeria.
“I didn’t come for the congress so what is my business there? Materials were at the party office. It has nothing to do with me because the part set-up a committee that came to sell the forms and the sold it to people who wanted to buy the form”, Udoedehe said.
Mr. Udoedehe alleged that the minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio is the one sponsoring the call for his removal as national secretary.
He said the call by the ward chairmen is meaningless because he was not elected by them but appointed by the national executive committee of the party.
“They have tried everything within their power to remove me at the national secretary. Their paymaster paid people to rubbish me. They have written all sort of things against me and I have not said anything.
“Are they the ones who appointed me as national secretary? Was national secretary zoned to Akwa Ibom? No. It was the president who appointed me as national secretary, just like he appointed Godswill Akpabio as minister”, he said.
He advised that those who have complaints about the congress should wait for the appeal panel as provided in the guidelines.
