The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has faulted Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso for describing members of the Kwankwassiya Movement, who defected to the APC, as betrayers, insisting that Kwankwaso is the betrayer.
Recall that Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State and national leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, slammed some key members of the NNPP in Kano State, who recently defected to the APC, describing their actions as a betrayal of trust.
Kwankwaso stated this at his Miller Road residence in Kano on Friday evening, when some caucus members of the Kwankwasiya movement from Takai Local Government Area of the state visited him on invitation.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that Sen. Abdulrahman Kawu, who represents the Kano South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, recently defected to the APC along with some federal lawmakers from Kano State.
In a statement on Monday in Lagos, the NNPP National Chairman, Dr Agbo Major, said that Kwankwaso cannot speak for the party.
“Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has been expelled from NNPP and together with his followers, led by Dr Ahmed Ajuji.”
According to Major, the Kwankwasiya movement is not a political party but a group admitted into the NNPP in the wake of the 2023 presidential elections where their leader became the flag bearer of the party.
Major stated that the NNPP found it funny that Kwankwaso would be calling out some members of the movement who joined the APC as betrayers of the party.
“The NNPP has long severed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasia movement after the presidential elections in 2023; hence, members of the movement, as Nigerian citizens, are legally free to join any political party of their choice.
“The same Kwankwaso who betrayed the trust reposed in him by the NNPP when he tried to hijack the party is the one calling others betrayers.
“Nigerians have the constitutional right to join and belong to any political party of their choice.
“Therefore, Kwankwaso, who has long lost control of his Kwankwasiya movement, cannot stop his members from belonging to the APC and/or any other political party in Nigeria.
“Kwankwaso lost all respect from his followers when he tried to bite the fingers that gave him the presidential ticket on trust without any financial obligations.
“Kwankwaso has long been expelled from the NNPP and should either register his own party or look for another political platform to hijack.
“His members defecting to the APC simply shows that he has also lost control of the movement, just like he lost his planned hijack of the NNPP, registered in 2002, before his entrance in 2023,” he said.
“Kwankwaso’s political career ended with his expulsion from the NNPP and the consequent defection of his followers,” Major said.
Recall that an Abuja Federal High Court dismissed a suit filed by some people loyal to Kwankwaso, challenging the legitimacy of the NNPP’s current leadership under its founder, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, and national chairman, Major.
The case, filed by Ajuji and 20 others, aimed to invalidate the authority of the NNPP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and its executive leadership, including Mr Tony Christopher Obioha, Dr Oginni Olaposi (National Secretary), and Chief Felix Chukwurah (Deputy National Chairman).
The claimants had asked the court to restrain the aforementioned officials from convening meetings, conducting congresses, or presiding over the party’s national convention, arguing that they had been expelled from the NNPP.
However, in a landmark judgement, Justice M.A. Hassan ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit, affirming that internal party disputes—such as leadership and membership issues—are beyond judicial intervention.
“Kwankwaso should take advantage of Sen. Abdullah Ganduje’s large heart to help him return to the APC family as an ordinary member of the party rather than criticise defectors to the party,” he said. (NAN)
