Politics

APC chair: Adamu tenders resignation letter to Uzodimma

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, has reportedly resigned from his position.

It was gathered that Adamu resigned as the APC National Chairman via a resignation letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu and sent to the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Sunday, July 16, 2023, ahead of the president’s return from the African Union (AU) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

It was further learned that Adamu’s letter was received by the Chief of Staff of the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Sunday.

Adamu, a former governor of Nasarawa State, emerged as the APC National Chairman at the party’s national convention in March 2022.

“He has resigned. The resignation letter signed by him has been sent to the villa. The letter was addressed to President Tinubu.

“But since the president is away in Kenya for the AU meeting, the letter was sent to his Chief of Staff,” a source told Daily Trust.

Another source close to Adamu added that the former governor resigned following “a gang up by people around the president to embarrass him” during the meetings of the party’s National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) slated for Tuesday and Wednesday, July 19, 2023.

The source, however, denied a report that Tinubu asked Adamu to resign ahead of the party’s National Caucus and NEC meetings.

The ruling party had fixed July 10 and 11 for its National Caucus and NEC meetings to iron out critical issues affecting it and the crisis within the National Working Committee (NWC).

However, the meetings were later postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

It was further gathered that the Chairman of the APC Governors Forum and Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, received and accepted Adamu’s resignation letter, who took it to the Presidential Villa on the orders of President Tinubu.

A senior member of APC NWC, on Sunday night, disclosed that Governor Uzodimma was also mandated to ensure smooth handover to Adamu’s “next-in-line” pending the official election of substantive replacement.

Uzodimma, according to APC sources, “will oversee the transition of power to a new acting chairman very soon.”

It was learned that the APC Deputy National Chairman for North, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, will take over in the interim.

Part of the actions expected from the governor in the coming days would be to determine if the scheduled meeting should still hold on Monday or to fix new dates for the National Caucus and NEC meetings of the ruling party.

Adamu was forced to resign to avoid humiliation at the NEC meeting where NWC members ganged up against him. His running of the party affairs and accounts were issues against him.

Some powerful presidential aides are against his retention over his opposition to the presidential ambition of Tinubu.

The APC chairman supported the immediate past Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.

Adamu was also opposed to the principal officers of the National Assembly until he was summoned to the Presidential Villa.

The Star