The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has taken a decisive step by suspending Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, their presidential candidate in the February 25th election, due to alleged anti-party activities.
In a similar vein, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party has also been suspended.
This move has been coupled with the appointment of new national officers to ensure the smooth functioning of the party during this period.
Dr. Agbo Major has been designated as the acting National Chairman, while Mr. Ogini Olaposi will serve as the acting National Secretary, both supported by 18 other individuals.
The suspension, set for a duration of six months, was voted on during the party’s special general assembly, which took place at Rockview Hotels in Apapa.
This course of action comes after the NWC of the party, on August 24th, suspended the party’s founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, and the National Publicity Secretary, Major.
Secretary of the BoT, Babayo Muhammed Abdulahi, addressed the media after the meeting in Lagos, highlighting Kwankwaso’s alleged affiliations with President Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), without obtaining authorization from the board. As a consequence, Abdullahi announced the revocation of Kwankwaso’s position as the NNPP national leader.
Abdulahi further emphasized that the suspension of the NNPP founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, was a blatant and severe violation of the party’s constitution.
He clarified that Aniebonam had already resigned from the position of BoT Chairman, leading to the election of Dr. Chief Tope Aluko as the new BoT Chairman, and Abdulahi as the new BoT Secretary. High Chief Tony Obioha was also elected as the BoT spokesperson.
Abdulahi also stressed that the pre-election Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Kwankwasia Movement, The National Movement (TNM), and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has been invalidated by the actions of the NWC.
Abdulahi said: “The purported suspension of the founder is a flagrant gross violation of the NNPP constitution such that it is tantamount to recklessness and irresponsibility on the part of the incompetent NWC.
“The BoT decided that material evidence in the public sector affirmed that Kwankwaso was involved in anti-party activities in various meetings, suggest political discussions with the President, Atiku and Obi without authorisation from the board.
“This has earned him six months suspension pending the outcome of investigation by the Disciplinary Committee.
“The BOT insisted that the avoidable violation of MoU between NNPP on the one part and Kwankwasia, TNM and NAGAFF on the other has no other choice than to withdraw from the partnership.
“It is therefore to state clearly that the MOU have been rendered void.”
Also speaking, the acting chairman said his team would hit the ground running by healing the wounds created by the suspended NWC members.
Major said the party would remain the most ordinary friendly party in the country and urged other members that are displaced for one reason or the other to return to its fold.
“We don’t intend to shut anybody out or censor anybody but we want to ensure that we remain on track and maintain our people-oriented ideology,” he said.
The special general assembly meeting was attended by the new NWC and members from across the country.
