According to the NNPP, Kwankwaso cannot be removed as the party’s face.

The National Executive Committee, NEC, of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has announced that Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, remains the party’s face and that no organisation or individual can remove him from the party.

According to the NEC, claims by a faction of the party that Senator Kwankwaso committed anti-party crimes following meetings with President Bola Tinubu, former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, were laughable because he carried the national caucus along in all the meetings.

Mallam Kawu Ali, the national chairman of the Kwankwaso-backed NNPP, told journalists yesterday during a meeting with the National Working Committee and NNPP State Chairmen at the party’s secretariat in Abuja that the Dr. Boniface Aniebonam-led board of trustees of the party had not been properly constituted and lacked the powers to suspend Senator Kwankwaso.

Ladipo Johnson, the party’s national auditor and spokesman for the presidential campaign council,

Johnson read the address on behalf of Mallam Kawu Ali, the national chairman of the Kwankwaso-backed NNPP, who denounced all measures made by the party’s Agbo Major-led group as illegitimate and insignificant.

At the request of the Major-led faction, Babayo Muhammed Abdullahi stripped Kwankwaso of his national leader status for allegedly engaging in political discussions with President Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) without the board’s approval.

Johnson went on to say, “These so-called chairmen are no longer a part of the party,” referring to those who allegedly suspended Senator Kwankwaso.

“The former BoT Chairman began issuing letters reinstating those who had been punished.” He lacked the necessary power, and all efforts to persuade him to stop were unsuccessful.

“The NWC had no choice but to apply the law to him.” During the NWC meeting on August 24, the former BoT Chairman and former National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Gilbert Major Agbo, were both suspended for three months pending investigations into the allegations levelled against them.

As of March 1st, 2022, the party’s then-National Executive Committee met on the 28th of February 2023, where all of the party’s organs met.”

According to the constitution, those entrusted with conducting the party’s activities were all dissolved in the presence of INEC authorities.

“The party was being run by a fictitious National Working Committee comprised of the then-National Secretary, Dr. Gilbert Major Ago, and National Chairman, Dr. Boniface Ani Lagos.” Because the National Chairman, Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam, was in Lagos, the National Secretary handled everything in Abuja, even inserting his signature into documents. That was the structure the TNM encountered on the ground.”

“It is laughable that some people have reduced politics and party administration to a farce, and granting himself certain powers is not acceptable in a democracy.”

The NNPP’s acting national chairman, Alhaji Abba Kawu, attributed the party’s crisis to leadership efforts to reform and make it more sustainable.

“Isn’t it amusing that all those people who have been suspended or expelled would gather somewhere and claim to have suspended His Excellency, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Ph.D., FNSE, and also dissolved the NWC?” Ali asked.

“The jokers also appointed a CTC comprised of those who had ceased to be members of the party due to our Constitution.” Was INEC present at the meeting? Did they contact INEC?

“Can you tell me who signed the letter?” Isn’t it ironic that Major Agbo, who announced the suspension of the former chairmen, the expulsion of two of them, and the breakup of some of the states, is now ostensibly “heading” their caretaker committee?

“It’s just a shame that some people have reduced politics and party administration to a farce.” In a democracy, it is not acceptable for one individual to sit there and arrogate certain rights to himself.

We’re using this medium to reassure our fans across the country that the report has no validity. Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the party’s face, has not been suspended, and the NWC, led by Malam Abba Kawu Ali, remains in place.”