John Akpanudoedehe, the 2023 governorship candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Akwa Ibom State, has resigned his party membership.
Mr Akpanudoedehe, a former senator and national secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), announced his resignation from the NNPP in a letter dated 30 June to the chairperson of the party in his ward in Uyo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom.
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The former senator posted the letter on his Facebook page.
He did not give any reason for leaving the party other than saying it was “time to move on.”
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“After careful reflection, I have decided to review my membership with the NNPP. My time in the NNPP has been eventful and has offered valuable lessons. I believe it is time to move on,” Mr Akpanudoedehe said in the letter, adding that he did not harbour any ill will towards the party or its leadership.
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the former senator, who is a pastor, and asked him which political party he was moving to, he responded: “I am praying about it. I’ll let the people know about it.”
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Because he brought the APC to Akwa Ibom and sustained it as an opposition party when most of the state’s top politicians were in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Akpanudoedehe was, for a long time, regarded as the face of opposition politics in the state.
He was originally a member of the PDP and led Godswill Akpabio’s governorship campaign in 2007 before his relationship with the then-Governor Akpabio fell apart, prompting him to defect to the Action Congress of Nigeria, one of the parties that came together to form the APC.
Mr Akpanudoedehe’s resignation from the NNPP and whichever party he moves to is expected to add to the changing dynamics of Akwa Ibom politics after Governor Umo Eno’s recent defection from the PDP to the APC.
