NNPP Accuses Kwankwaso of Anti-Party Activities, Says Defections Linked to Leadership Crisis

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has accused its 2023 presidential candidate and former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, of engaging in anti-party activities, a development it says has deepened the party’s leadership crisis and triggered mass defections to rival political platforms.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the party’s National Secretary, Dr Ogini Olaposi, alleged that Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya Movement had attempted to seize control of the NNPP’s structure, an action that has unsettled loyal members and weakened the party’s internal cohesion.

“The NNPP has faced a series of litigations and remains entangled in a leadership crisis instigated by Senator Kwankwaso and his movement, who have tried to hijack the party’s organs and structure,” Olaposi stated.

He linked recent defections, including those of House of Representatives member, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Ambassador Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, who joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the internal feud allegedly fuelled by Kwankwaso’s camp.

“The situation has led several key stakeholders in Kano and other strategic states to abandon the NNPP for the APC,” Olaposi lamented, accusing Kwankwaso’s loyalists of betraying the confidence reposed in them by the party’s founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr Boniface Aniebonam.

He further explained that the crisis had discouraged committed members and created uncertainty ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“With INEC yet to enforce the landmark court rulings recognising the Dr Agbo Major-led National Working Committee, some members, unsure of their standing, are exploring other political options,” Olaposi said.

While expressing concern over the situation, the party maintained that it bore no ill will toward defectors, describing their decisions as an exercise of democratic rights.

“It is within the right of every Nigerian to join or leave any political association of their choice. Those who left did so out of their free will and not under compulsion,” the statement read.

Olaposi reaffirmed the NNPP’s commitment to its founding ideals of integrity, inclusiveness, and transparency, urging members to remain steadfast while efforts to restore unity continue.

“We trust that the Independent National Electoral Commission will uphold justice and comply with the valid court judgments in due course,” he added.