The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) state chairmen, who are outraged, have denounced the purported covert actions taken by Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, the party’s former presidential candidate, to seize control of the party’s machinery from Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, the party’s founder.
Comrade Olayinka Dada, the party’s Ekiti State Chairman, briefed reporters in Ado-Ekiti and accused the NWC members of using themselves as free tools in Kwakwanso’s hands to harm the party’s overall interests.
He made a suggestion that the NNPP leaders from 10 States had voted against the members of the Abba Kawu-led National Working Committee (NWC) because they were reportedly conspiring with Kwankwaso to carry out their evil scheme.
He declared that they had rejected the NWC leadership because they had failed to run the party’s affairs effectively, and he voiced shock over what he called Kwankwaso’s desperation in dismantling the political party that had once provided him and his foot soldiers with a fortress in the most recent election.
Dada, who also serves as the spokesperson for the Forum of NNDP State Chairmen, claimed that the party started to have doubts when Kwankwaso hurriedly met in secret with the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate and election winner Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in France days after the vote, even as other serious political parties were gathering evidence of electoral fraud to contest the results as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He claimed that Kwankwaso’s one action, along with other injustices noted before to, during, and following the Presidential election, proved that he had sold out.
In addition to others, the state chairmen include those of Ekiti, Enugu, Rivers, Zamfara, Kastina, Kaduna, and Niger.
Dada pointed out that Kwankwaso’s internal sabotage, selfishness, greed, and insincerity, as well as some undemocratic forces inside the party, were to blame for the party’s poor result during the general election.
He also disregarded the NWC’s decision to suspend the seven state chairmen and dissolve the party’s entire leadership, from the ward to the state levels, calling it an egregious illegality that couldn’t stand.
“The NNPP has become embroiled in an intra-party crisis as a result of the NWC of our party’s blatantly illegal and illegitimate choices.
“I would like to let the world know that Kwankwaso created this crisis to take over the party’s structures after he was questioned about his anti-party activities.
“The unholy affair with Tinubu was the root of these anti-party acts. The performance of the party during the general election was significantly impacted by this relationship.
“Today, it’s clear that the renter has now come after the landlord, but the state chairmen have decided to never let the tenant live in our own home. The plan to establish an unauthorised caretaker panel across the 10 States is known to us.
“We won’t permit anyone to exchange the combined sweat of the party’s members for personal gain. We pledge to use all legal tools at our disposal to protect the party’s honour,” he stated.
Dada asserted that the executives in the seven states would continue to fulfil their legal obligations in accordance with the operative party’s legal framework and that they still have constitutional standing.
Adding that the NWC lacks the authority to dissolve executives because it was created illegally, he claimed that the alleged dissolution was an outright violation of the party constitution.
He urged party members to remain committed and not be dissuaded by the ‘devious antics’ of some allegedly anti-democratic individuals who wanted to create disorder and then take over the party.
