APC Spokesman, Abdullahi, Quits Party

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

All Progressives Congress National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, has resigned from the party.

Abdullahi, whose political family in Kwara state led by Senate President Bukola Saraki defected Tuesday to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced his resignation from APC on Wednesday.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Abdullahi said he found distasteful the move by the party leadership to undermine his office as the spokesman of the party.

He also frowned at what he described as “an unlawful dissolution of the validly elected party executive in Kwara State”, saying that it amounted to double standards for a party that preaches change.

Abdullahi’s statement read: “In the last few days, I have had to endure the flagrant usurpation of my role as the spokesman of the party in a manner that I consider unbefitting of a ruling party and inconsistent with my ethical standards.

“I have served the APC honestly and to the best of my ability and when I stood for and won my election at the last convention; it was a keen desire to continue to do so. However, in a situation whereby my loyalty is constantly brought into question; my subordinates deployed to subvert my office; and my views constantly second-guessed on the basis of my political affiliation, it has become imperative for me to review my position”.

Abdullahi said he was disappointed by the action of the leadership of the APC with regard to the dissolution of party executives in his home state, by failing to get his input.

“Since assuming office as the spokesman of the party, I had tried to set a new template for public political communications in a way that departs from the vulgar abuse and verbal aggression of the recent past, where cheap lies and crude propaganda were normalised as politics, and even celebrated as measures of competence.

Unfortunately, those who felt I was not “forceful enough” framed my ethical disposition as evidence of a lack of commitment to the party.

“The unlawful dissolution of the validly elected party executive in Kwara State earlier in the week was only another phase in the unrelenting assault I have had to endure. As a national officer of the party, who sit in that Committee, courtesy should demand that my views be sought on a matter that concerns my state and in which I am directly involved. That action was, to say the least, disrespectful.

“Quite recently, we all took the oath to do justice to all and not allow personal interests to interfere with our official responsibilities. With this obviously presumptuous action, and the decision to appoint as chairman of caretaker committee, the same man who had emerged as the chairman from the parallel congress in my state, the NWC has taken sides, violated its oath of office and subverted its own credibility as an impartial arbiter. Yet, these are the same people that have continued to insinuate that others are serving interests other than those of the party.

“Politics is local, and my personal stake in the issue of Kwara makes it incongruous for me to continue to sit as part of the working committee of the party. Clearly, I cannot continue to function as the spokesman of a party whose expectations of that role is incompatible with my personal principles. In the same token, I can no longer justify to myself that I should remain in a party which has now made it clear to the world that the political group that I belong is no longer wanted, and which has hung my membership of that group as an albatross around my neck,” he said.