In his email, that was at times critical of the MIGOP, Akinyemi stated;

I am deeply concerned about the direction of our party. The more I began to evaluate our party and the people in it the less I became convinced that we could change.

His announcement comes after conducting a "listening tour" of the state that lasted several months and took him to cities such as Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Detroit, Muskegon and Grand Rapids.  The tour was done to support his outreach program and was meant to lead up to the MIGOP state convention to be held later this month.