Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Yekini Nabena, has condemned the purported sack of the national secretary of the party, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, saying only National Executive Committee (NEC) can exercise such power.
A letter containing a vote of no confidence on the national secretary emerged Thursday morning revealing that a full quorum of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, consisting of 10 members signed a letter sacking Senator Akpanudoedehe.
- Reps move to regulate Nigeria’s participation in peacekeeping operations
- Fuel crisis: Buhari apologises to Nigerians, orders clampdown on saboteurs
But responding to the purported sack while speaking with newsmen at the APC national secretariat, Nabena said such sacking can not stand anywhere.
The APC chieftain said those who signed the said sack letter have no power to remove the Secretary.
“What they need is two-thirds of NEC – NEC members and not appointed members.
“The governors are elected, so they are members of NEC, the President is a member of NEC.
“So, whatsoever Stella Okotete and co were doing amounted to nulity because they don’t have the power, they have failed to read their party constitution.”
“In short, they are seen as borrowed members of NEC in the first place, some of them, except the governors among them, are not authentic members of NEC. So, it is an exercise in futility,” he said.
The CECPC has been running the party since its inauguration on June 25, 2020, following the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC).
Senator Akpanudoedehe is being embattled as a result of a conflict of interest ahead of the party’s national convention slated for next week Saturday.
Members of the Caretaker Committee who signed the document sacking the Secretary are Niger State governor, Sani Bello; a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; Senator Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, Prof Tahir Mamman, David Lyon, Akinremi Olaide, Barrister Ismaeel Ahmed, Dr James Lalu, Stella Okotete.
The document is dated March 8, 2022.