The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has accused its 2023 presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of engaging in anti-party activities and betraying the confidence of the party’s founding members.
The party alleged that the former Kano State governor’s conduct has triggered widespread defections to both the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The party made the allegation in response to the recent departure of two key members Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin, who returned to the APC, and Ambassador Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, who defected to the PDP.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the NNPP National Secretary, Dr Ogini Olaposi, attributed the wave of defections to a leadership crisis allegedly instigated by Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya Movement.
“The NNPP faced a series of litigations and still faces a leadership crisis when Kwankwaso and his movement tried to hijack the party’s leadership and structures,” he said.
Olaposi lamented that several strategic members in Kano had already decamped to the ruling APC due to the situation.
He also accused Kwankwaso and his followers of betraying Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, the party’s founder and Chairman of its Board of Trustees.
“The unfortunate thing is that Kwankwaso and his followers betrayed the trust reposed in them by Dr Boniface Aniebonam, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the NNPP,” Olaposi added.
According to him, the internal rift has discouraged loyal members and pushed others to seek relevance elsewhere ahead of the 2027 elections.
“With INEC yet to resolve the NNPP leadership crisis despite the landmark judgments affirming the Dr Agbo Major-led National Working Committee, there is a tendency that many more members, who are not sure of their fate, will leave,” he said.
The party, however, emphasized that it holds no bad intention toward those who choose to leave, noting that joining or leaving a political party is a matter of personal choice.
“It’s the right of every Nigerian to choose the party they wish to belong to. The defectors did not join another party under duress but out of their free will because of our internal leadership crisis,” the statement read.
Dr Olaposi reaffirmed that the NNPP is built on the principles of honesty, integrity, and ideological commitment, urging members to remain calm while ongoing efforts to restore unity within the party continue.
“It’s our hope that INEC should not wait for a compelling order of the court to obey valid court judgements,” he added.
