The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has expressed concern over the continued reference by sections of the Nigerian media to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as the leader of the party, despite repeated efforts to correct this misrepresentation.
The party states that it has, on several occasions, provided documentary and material evidence to inform media practitioners that Senator Kwankwaso and others — including Dr. Ahmed Ajuji, Elder Buba Galadima, Barr. Ladipo Johnson, Mr. Dipo Olayoku, Prince Onu Nweze, Dr. Frank Ijeh, Barr. Hon. Robert, among others — have been duly expelled from the NNPP through established internal disciplinary processes.
Beyond the party’s internal decisions, both the Abia State High Court and the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, have legally affirmed the expulsion of the affected individuals.
Specifically, the FCT High Court, Abuja, presided over by Justice Kawu, issued an enrolment order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from dealing or transacting any official business with the Kwankwaso and Dr. Ahmed Ajuji-led National Working Committee, pending the determination of a judicial review.
The party dismisses claims suggesting that INEC’s database or server still recognises the expelled individuals as leaders of the NNPP, describing such claims as mere administrative lapses. The NNPP clarifies that the upload of the names of Dr. Agbo Major Gilbert and Comrade Oginni Olaposi Sunday to INEC’s national server will be effected upon the conclusion of INEC’s internal administrative processes and the ongoing judicial review.
The NNPP further reiterates that INEC, as a regulatory body, does not determine party membership or leadership. Court orders, the party stresses, must be obeyed unless overturned or set aside by a superior court of competent jurisdiction.
In light of the foregoing, the NNPP appeals to media organisations to desist from referring to Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as the leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party. The party advises that he may appropriately be described as the leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, a political pressure group, or as the NNPP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election.
This clarification, the party notes, has become necessary to prevent confusion and misinformation among sister political parties, especially at a time of heightened political negotiations and realignments.
Accordingly, this release is issued for the information of all political stakeholders, particularly the APC, PDP, ADC, Labour Party, the media, IPAC, and other relevant bodies, in their engagements with Senator Kwankwaso.
The party further recalls that Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State and others eventually defected to the APC after repeated but unsuccessful attempts to rein in Senator Kwankwaso. It describes the unilateral change of the NNPP’s logo and colour scheme to those associated with Senator Kwankwaso’s private school and the Kwankwasiyya movement as the height of what it terms “criminal conversion.”
The NNPP therefore calls on politicians of honour and integrity to freely associate with the party without fear, assuring them that the era of what it describes as despotic and domineering influence within the party is over and will not return.
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