20th November, 2023
The National Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Olaposi Oginni, has said the presidential candidate of the party, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, should be blamed for how the election tribunal and the Appeal Court sacked the Governor of Kano, Abba Yusuf.
Yusuf of the NNPP was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Kano State.
However, the governor is on the verge of losing his seat to the All Progressives Congress (APC) should the Supreme Court uphold the judgments of the tribunal and the Appeal Court.
Reacting, the NNPP Secretary said Kwankwaso was a major factor responsible for the sack of the Kano Governor, accusing him of alleged irregularities and electoral malpractices.
Oginni also blamed the ordeal of the Kano governor on “Kwankwaso’s greediness and his insatiable search for power and relevance.”
The NNPP leader, in a statement, maintained that the lack of internal democracy allegedly orchestrated by Kwankwaso brought about the Kano loss.
According to him, the party ignored relevant constitutional requirements since Kwankwaso became the party’s candidate.
He alleged that names of people who did not participate in the party’s primaries were uploaded into the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) portal as candidates.
“It is unfortunate that this avoidable embarrassment of the removal of Kano State Governor was as a result of unholy activities in the Maitama house of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in the build up to 2023 General Election when the Party Situation Room was relocated to Kwankwaso’s bedroom,” he alleged.
Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya group, he claimed, joined the NNPP and hijacked the party structure at all levels, saying that Kwankwaso ordered the loading of candidate’s names with or without primaries.
In Ogun State, Oginni stated that Kwankwaso uploaded the name of Ajadi Oguntoyinbo who did not participate in the primary as the governorship candidate to replace Jobi Fayoyin.
“It is very clear that the lack of internal democracy orchestrated by Kwankwaso brought about this Kano calamity,” he said.
Speaking further, Oginni said nemesis was catching up with Kwankwaso, and the defunct National Working Committee of the party passed a resolution for the expulsion of the founder of the NNPP, Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam.
He charged the former Kano governor to recognise Aniebonam as the founder and spiritual head of the NNPP, asking him and Gov. Yusuf to openly apologize to Aniebonam for causing NNPP an avoidable headache.
He said this should be done before the final judgment at the Supreme Court, saying, “I strongly believe it is not over until it’s over.”