- Duru denies lawyer’s absence at NEC meeting as rumor peddler’s work
- El-Marzuq resigns before ruling party National Caucus meeting in Abuja
The suggestion that the party’s national legal adviser, Ahmad El-Marzuq, may have been coerced out of the committee has been labelled “untrue” by the All Progressives Congress’ National Working Committee.
The new information comes two days after the former legal advisor gave up.
On the eve of the National Caucus meeting of the ruling party, which was convened at the dining hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, El-Marzuq had tendered his resignation.
The pressure exerted on El-Marzuq to leave the NWC on Thursday by the presidency and APC governors was widely reported online and on social media.
Reacting, Deputy National Organising Secretary of the APC, Nze Chidi Duru, reiterated that there was no iota of truth in the viral report.
Duru also dismissed speculation that the lawyer was shut out at the NEC meeting as the handiwork of rumour peddler.
He said, “El-Marzuq resigned from the NWC and his letter was accepted by the party.
“Forget what anybody might have told you that he was shut out at the NEC meeting. It is not true. El-Marzuq is a member of the body of life benchers. To be a life bencher in the legal profession is a strong position.
“If anybody said he attempted to force his way to the meeting, it can only be in the realm of conjecture. He will not do such a thing. It is speculation. The party is working together. There is no division.”
The legal practitioner also confirmed his exit in a phone chat with our correspondent, saying the decision to quit was of his volition.
“It was a voluntary resignation,” he said.
The former APC legal adviser also declined to speak further when probed on whether his resignation had to do with the change in leadership.