Former External Affairs Minister and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Tom Ikimi, yesterday withdrew his membership of the party.

Ikimi was chairman of the merger steering committees of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) that coalesced into the APC.

In his letter, dated August 26, and addressed to the National Chairman of APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, Ikimi made known his intention to dump the main opposition party.

The letter read in part: “Thank you for your two letters dated August 15, 2014, one inviting me to attend the APC national caucus meeting and the other to attend the APC Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting.

“ I regret my inability to attend both meetings. However, kindly find forwarded to you herewith my statement released today bearing the title, ‘All Progressives Congress (APC)- My Reflections’ and wish to particularly draw your attention to the last paragraph of the document stating the withdrawal of my membership from the party- APC.

“This is to further confirm my decision to withdraw from the All Progressives Congress from today. Kindly extend to all members of the party my warmest felicitations.”

While he did not give reasons for his withdrawal of membership of the main opposition party in the letter, Ikimi claimed in a separate statement made available to newsmen in Abuja that the alleged overbearing attitude of former Lagos State governor and National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu, was responsible for his decision to dump the party.

The former minister of external affairs, who was an aspirant for the office of national chairman of the party at its last convention, accused the former Lagos State governor of imposing his cronies as national officers right from the inception of APC.

“This reckless and arrogant self-aggrandisement paved the way for the imposition of a strange leadership on the APC in July 2013, when the party obtained registration from the Independent NationalElectoral Commission (INEC). Those of us, who had worked so hard towards the successful merger and creation of the APC, were manipulated out of the scheme of things.

“In the bizarre struggle to seize control of the party, we were openly accused by the self-proclaimed owners of the party, of wanting to steal ‘their’ party. Many of us in the party as well as keen observers outside frowned at the skewed leadership image of the party that was being paraded; an image that blatantly ignored national sensitivities. “

The former chairman of the merger steering committees of the APC did not disclose his next political abode in the statement.

-Sun