SENATOR Benjamin Uwajumogu, has stated why he resigned as the secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC) National Convention Committee.
Uwajumogu cited “domestic matters” as the reason for his exit.
This is coming 24 hours after the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun quit the race for the chairmanship of the party,
Addressing a news conference on Saturday where he officially announced his resignation as the secretary, Uwajumogu said he had to resign his appointment in order to attend to some family matters.
He said when he accepted the appointment, he had believed that the Convention would hold on May 14, but that the new date of June 23 would clash with his long term ambition to attend the graduation of two of his children from universities in England.
“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 hand 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.
“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”.
On whether he was traded off to accommodate the interests of his state governor, Rochas Okorocha with whom he has had a running battle alongside other stakeholders, Uwajumogu said, “For me, my relationship with him is not a personal thing; 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 percent 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 where 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 any choice but to detach myself from that government.
“As a matter of fact, I am happy now that I have resigned, maybe it will be clear that the convention, which is slated to elect national officers, is not manipulated. I am aware that the governor is supporting some South East citizens to run for offices zoned to the region, and so now that I have resigned, nobody will accuse me of manipulating the process.”
Senator Uwajumogu added that the convention was not threatened by his exit as the committee had concluded virtually all arrangements to hold the exercise despite having received only N13 million so far for its activities.
He further debunked insinuations that he was squeezed out over financial malfeasance.
He said he had read reports in the social media sponsored by some state elements saying he was sacked because he embezzled convention funds.
He, however, said that Imo State under Okorocha was now a massive basket of fraud.
“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 had built, which have been overtaken by weeds. Imo State is a massive basket of fraud and I am very sure that the EFCC has its records.
“It is very clear today that this is no longer an Imo issue but a south east issue. It is very clear now that the entire south east 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.”
The party has, however, moved to bridge the gap as it has appointed the chairman of the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba, to replace him. Source: https://www.headlineng.com/apc-convention-planning-committee-secretary-resigns-replaced/ 
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