The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has suspended Sen. Rabiu Kwakwanso, the party’s presidential candidate in the Feb. 25 presidential election, for alleged anti-party activities.
The BoT also suspended the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party and appointed new national officers headed by Dr. Agbo Major as acting National Chairman and Mr. Ogini Olaposi as acting National Secretary, among 18 others.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the suspensions were put to a voice vote by members of the party at its special general assembly, held at the Rockview Hotels in Apapa.
NAN recalls that the NWC of the party on Thursday, Aug. 24, announced the suspension of the founder of the party, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, and the National Publicity Secretary, Major.
Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting in Lagos on Tuesday, Secretary of the BoT, Babayo Muhammed Abdulahi, accused Kwankwaso of hobnobbing with President Bola Tinubu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, without the board’s authorization.
Abdullahi announced that Kwankwaso had been stripped of NNPP national leader status by the board.
The secretary of the BoT said the purported suspension of the NNPP founder was a flagrant and gross violation of the party’s constitution.
He pointed out that Aniebonam had resigned as the BoT chairman, and a new BoT chairman, Dr. Chief Tope Aluko, was elected with Abdulahi as the new BoT secretary, while High Chief Tony Obioha was elected as the BoT spokesperson.
Abdullahi said the pre-election Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Kwankwasia Movement, the National Movement (TNM), and the National Association of Government-Approved Freight Forwarders
(NAGAFF) had been rendered void by the actions of the NWC.
Abdullahi 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, suggesting political discussions with the President, Atiku, and Obi without authorization from the board.
“This has earned him a six-month suspension pending the outcome of an investigation by the Disciplinary Committee.
“The BOT insisted that the avoidable violation of the MoU between NNPP on the one hand 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 has 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 and friendly party in the country and urged other members who were displaced for one reason or another 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.
