The National Secretary of the party, Senator Saidu Kumo, disclosed this yesterday.
Confirming receiving Buhari’s resignation letter about 11 am yesterday, he said: “The General is free to abandon the party.”

It was reliably gathered that Buhari and his supporters may likely defect to the relatively unpopular Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Another source close to the ANPP National Secretariat disclosed that already, Buhari has dispatched a letter, indicating his intention to quit the party, “and the party’s leadership has given him the green light. His letter was accepted in good faith.

“General Buhari, out of his own volition, made the decision. He was not stampeded. He was not forced out of the party. He decided to quit and there is no way we can stop him because our party believes in the tenets of democracy and he has the freedom to make a choice for himself.”

When asked on whether or not Buhari’s exit would affect the party’s fortune in the 2011 elections, an ally to the General said, “General Buhari is an individual out of the thousands of other ANPP members. In our party, we have respected men of proven integrity who can fill the vacuum to be created by his exit; if at all there will be any.

“We wish him well whereever he is going, and we hope he would have the opportunity to actualise whatever ambition he is nursing. We, in the ANPP, are comfortable with his exit, not because we wanted him to go, but because he has chosen to leave.”

Second Republic Deputy President, Alhaji Abubakar Mamman Dan Musa, confirmed Buhari’s exit, which he said was long over due.

ANPP’S National Reconciliation Committee Chairman and former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa, described Buhari’s exit as a welcome news to all genuine ANPP supporters, adding that the best thing for Buhari to do now is to quit politics for good.