Williams Kayode
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has clarified that ongoing talks about a defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) involve only its former presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and his Kwankwasiya Movement, not the party as an institution.
In a statement released in Lagos on Monday, the NNPP’s National Secretary, Dr. Ogini Olaposi, stressed that Kwankwaso’s weekend declaration of readiness to join the APC was personal and had no bearing on the NNPP.
Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State and the NNPP’s 2023 presidential flagbearer, had on Saturday revealed that he and his supporters were prepared to align with the ruling party. However, he cautioned that the Kwankwasiya Movement would not allow itself to be used merely to deliver electoral victory and then discarded.
Responding, Olaposi said Kwankwaso’s announcement only confirmed the party’s earlier stance that the ex-governor and his loyalists were no longer part of the NNPP.
“At last, we have been vindicated,” he declared. “All negotiations by any political party with Kwankwaso should henceforth be done strictly in his individual capacity. Our party will now rest from the resistance of his movement, after they were expelled for anti-party activities.”
The NNPP scribe explained that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the NNPP and the Kwankwasiya Movement effectively ended after the 2023 elections. According to him, the crisis within the party arose because Kwankwaso and his allies, instead of leaving peacefully, allegedly attempted to hijack the party’s structures.
“We can’t wait to see them in another party,” he added.
Olaposi further argued that Kwankwaso currently lacks a solid political platform, pointing out that many of his loyalists in Kano had already defected to the APC long before his latest move.
“Kwankwaso’s political value has dipped after betraying the NNPP, which gave him a free platform for his presidential ambition. When strategic members of his movement joined the ruling APC, he was left weakened,” Olaposi said.
He emphasized that while Nigerians are free to engage with Kwankwaso on his rights as an individual, such dealings must not be mistaken as representing the NNPP.
“Any negotiation in the name of NNPP is null and void because he and his group remain expelled from our party,” he stressed.
The NNPP, Olaposi maintained, holds no hostility towards the APC and could, in the future, explore alliances ahead of the 2027 general elections. However, he insisted that any such decision would be taken collectively by all members and not by individuals.
“For now, we are putting our house in order nationwide after the crisis and litigations that Kwankwaso and his followers brought to the NNPP,” he explained.
Olaposi also criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to update its records to reflect the party’s new leadership, which emerged from a court-ordered convention that produced Dr. Agbo Major as national chairman.