1 day Ago By Rapheal
From Okwe Obi , Abuja The year 2024 was rough for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). Political observers had anticipated that after the supreme verdict that affirmed Abba Kabir Yusuf as the Governor of Kano State, party members would come together and consolidate on the party’s victory, and reconcile aggrieved factions ahead of subsequent contests. But that hope was dashed due to the unending leadership imbroglio that erupted within the only opposition party, aside the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with the highest number of lawmakers both at the national and state levels.
Daily Sun recalled that loyalists of Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso changed the logo of the party to red-white-red with a book and a graduation cap as its symbol. But the move did not appease and appeal to the Boniface Aniebonam-led faction, as the members parried the change, and insisted that the party’s logo would remain basket of fruits, a symbolism of abundance and rich vegetation. In his reaction, the Aniebonam’s recognised National Chairman, Agbo Major, in an exclusive chat with Daily Sun, insisted that: “Our party is one with one logo, which is a basket of fruits on top of the Nigerian map.
We have only one chairman which is myself. “The other side is a Kwankwasiyya people. They are not a political party.
So, we as a party has one chairman and one logo.” To compound the crisis, Governor Yusuf was suspended by the Aniebonam-led group for anti-party activities, after he snubbed a summon by the faction, for six months. After the six months elapsed and he still did not honour the invitation, the party slammed another six months suspension on him for insubordination.
Not satisfied, the Aniebonam-led group extended its sledgehammer by expelling Senator Kwankwaso for the same offense of anti-party activities. While that was still raising dust, the ruling party in Kano State tinkered with the monarchical structure of the emirate by removing His Royal Highness, Ado Bayero and enthroned Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the new emir. That singular action, according to some political devotees, dampened the enthusiasm and divided loyalists of both monarchs.
Some party faithful felt it was an aberration and an abuse of executive powers. Others however argue that it was the right way to go since the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was the emir before he was dethroned by the government of Abdullahi Ganduje. Also, Major faulted what he called “the autocratic tendencies of the Kwankwaso group” which he said in no distance time would plunge the fortune of the party into the abyss of insignificance.
He argued that: “They have mismanaged Kano State. Nigerians are watching and the truth is that they have mismanaged Kano State. And that is why we have always advised the Governor to dissociate himself from Senator Kwankwaso, his chances of coming back is bleak.
“You can see that the rating and popularity of the party is going down because Kano State people have woken up to the fact that there is no way a whole state that is as large as that will just be in the hands of one person who determines overnight who is governor, senator, who should be SSG, determines when SSG should be removed, determines when somebody should be impeached and all of that. So, it is unfortunate that they have reduced our party to that level in Kano State.” While speaking on the number of lawmakers loyal to the Kwankwaso faction, he said: “The lawmakers they are talking about, traditionally are from the Kwankwasiyya movement.
They came into the party alongside the Kwankwasiyya movement. Of course, the party only provided platform for them to run for election which they did and won. “So, we do not expect them to be loyal to us, because ab initio they were not members of the party; they were members of the Kwankwasiyya group.
The Kwankwasiyya group has been taken out of the party, so it is expected that they will also go. “It does not matter how many of the House of Representatives members that are with them. But our doors are wide open.
A party is about people and if they eventually realise that they should do what the likes of Ali Madaki and others have done, which is for them to return to party any day, we are ready to take them. “But they must be ready to denounce the membership of the Kwankwasiyya group. But as long as they are members of the Kwankwasiyya group in the face of the law, they are not members of the party,” the National Chairman added.
Expectedly, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ladipo Johnson, brushed aside the claims of Major, and wondered why the Aniebonam-led faction, whom he alleged sold the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC), during the Kano State legal limbo, were still parading themselves as members of the party, after their expulsion. “Those who have been parading themselves as NNPP members who are aggrieved were expelled from the party. And then they have ended up saying things like we are members of the party under the fruit basket, the old logo of the party.
” He argued that “simple technical, and legal thing is that there is no New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with a basket of fruits as logo registered under INEC any longer. “What you have is red -white- red with the educational book as the core of it, since April 2024. It is difficult to stop anyone from going to the rooftop to shout that he is a member of the party.
” He noted that 2024 “was a challenging year for us because these people made themselves tools in the hands of the opposition parties.” He recalled that it was “glaring that when we went up to the Supreme Court after the gubernatorial election from the tribunal, these so-called people openly supported APC against the elected governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf who is a member of our party. “They purportedly supported him, expelled Senator Kwankwaso, expelled myself.
But of course, their so called NNPP is not recognised.” On the emirate crisis and perceived consequences on the party, he said: “They (Aniebonam-led) supported the position of the APC in Kano in trying to uphold Ado Bayero who had been removed. “A known legal mind who is ordinarily aware of the way things are in Nigeria knows that chieftaincy matters lie within the ambit of the state and local government and not the federal government.
So, it is rascality on the part of some members of the APC in Kano, using what I will say is the offices of the instrumentality of the national. Who else can give Ado Bayero the police and military protection that is even more than that of the governor of Kano State? “These people who are now outside the party supported that. In the same vein, this was one of the major issues the party faced because the government in Kano and the party were facing it.
These same people went to court in Kano in an attempt to stop local government elections that was held a few weeks back. With the above examples, these people are acolytes of the APC to cause disaffection within the NNPP. “Now moving away from them, we are happy that despite the pressure we faced, I am talking about the government in Kano, Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf was able to move the state forward.
I am sure he would have done even more if he did not face all these challenges,” Johnson said. Furthermore, he said that “the removal of Ado Bayero will not affect the fortune of our party. Go and look at the road in the 44 Local Governments that we campaigned in, it was the demand by the grassroot people to Abba Kabir Yusuf that when you win, return Kano to a single emirate.
“It is not something the NNPP dreamt of or Abba Kabir Yusuf just decided to do like Senator Kwankwaso got up to tell Abba Kabir Yusuf to do. It came from the people themselves. I am sure you saw the crowd, the euphoria when Sanusi Lamido returned.
So, it will not. Rather, it will show to the people that promises were kept. “This year (2025), we will be busy rebranding.
We need to reposition the party so that Nigerians can see it as the alternative to the party in government at the national level.”.
