From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Renewed hostility looms in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) over the change of logo and slogan, in the last convention, organised by the perceived authentic faction led by a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Since after the 2023 general elections, there has been a leadership tussle between Kwankwaso and Boniface Aniebonam, who is the founder of the party.
Now, in the congress, the slogan was changed from ‘Peace, Equity and Progress’ to ‘Education for All.’ On the other hand, the logo of the party was changed from basket of fruits to a book and graduation cap.
The presence of Kwankwaso was visible with the red cap signature donned by his supporters and the presence of Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State who is the only governor of the party, 2 senators, 15 House of Representatives and State Assembly members, in Abuja.
Chieftains of the party, expectedly ratified the appointment of the National Working Committee members led by Kwankwaso as the National leader.
The rest who are to serve in acting capacity are: Ajuji Ahmed, as National Chairman, Onu Nwaeze as Deputy National Chairman South, Abba Kawu Ali as Deputy National Chairman North, Bala Yunusa Muhammed as National Organising Secretary, Ahmed Ladan Tafawa Balewa, National Treasurer, Barrister Ladipo Johnson, National Publicity Secretary and Yakubu Shendan as National Auditor.
Kwankwaso, in his address, explained that the change was in line with the mandate of the party to promote education.
The former minister of defence, said the change of logo was necessitated because of the difficulty he and some of his supporters had in identifying it in the last elections.
“Today, despite all the challenges that we had in the 2023 election, especially in the issue of our logo, we have addressed the problem.
“Even my humble self I found it very difficult to identify our logo during the election. That was why we thought it was very important for us to have a brand new logo for our party.
“In our party, today, we have this logo. You can see new Nigeria Peoples Party written very clearly and NNPP very boldly. I believe that in the next elections, nobody will be confused about our logo.
“You can see the red at the top right and without telling you we all know the meaning of red.
“Red is important to us because red signifies struggle. It signifies determination.
“It signifies commitment to eradicate poverty, to stop this insecurity that we have in this country, to promote education, which, of course, because even before now, that is our symbol. We stand for education, our priority over the years.
“Number one is education. Number two is education. Number three is education. And that is why we now have in our logo a book and, of course, by the side of the book, it is written education for all, meaning that we will do whatever it takes, like we did in Kano and elsewhere to ensure that each and every child in this country goes to school.
“We have taken note of the challenges of the day, because we are aware that in many states, especially in northern Nigeria, our children are not going to schools now because of insecurity because of poverty and so on and so forth,” he said.
But the whole arrangements did not sit well with the Boniface Aniebonam’s camp, led by its factional Chairman, Dr Major Agbo, who outrightly distanced themselves from it.
Agbo, in his reaction, described the Kwankwaso NNPP as illegal that should not be taken seriously. He claimed that Kwankwaso had been expelled from the party immediately after the 2023 general elections.
He went down memory lane explaining how the party was formed and stating that it emerged from the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF).
According to him, the court did not approve the conduct of the convention, alleging that the Kwankwaso faction disobeyed the court.
Aside that, an invitation letter signed by Oginni Olaposi Sunday, a National Secretary of the Aniebonam’s camp was sent to Governor Yusuf to appear before a disciplinary committee to explain why he participated in the convention. But, expectedly, the governor snubbed the summon.
The letter reads in part: “I am directed by The Board of Trustees of NEW NIGERIA PEOPLE’S PARTY (NNPP) to invite you to the National Headquarters of NNPP located at Willand Plaza, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja on Monday 15th of April 2024 by 9 a.m to explain the reason(s) why Your Excellency who was elected on the party’s platform and a national figure of NNPP participated in an illegal/ factional national convention of NNPP held by the Kwankwasiya group at A CLASS EVENT CENTER, Wuse 2 Abuja on Saturday, 6th April, 2024.
“In Accordance with Article 39, sub section 4 of our Constitution, the Disciplinary Committee is headed by Barrister Monday Mawah as Chairman while Prince Adetoyese Omokanye is Secretary.
“In accordance with Article 39.0, 39(1-4) on disciplinary procedures, Your Excellency would enjoy fair hearing with an unfettered opportunity to explore all other openings to resolve the issues being investigated as stipulated therein.
“Your Excellency is hereby respectfully expected unfailingly to explain to the Committee the reason(s) why Article 39. 6 (e,f & g) shall not be invoked as sanctions.”
Piqued by the refusal of the governor to attend, Agbo said: “I am not surprised that the governor of Kano State was there.
“He is a member of the Kwankwasiyya group even before he became governor and now, that is why we invited him now to appear before the committee.
“We know he will not come because he is loyal to his principal. But we will take action against him. If a logo and slogan are changed, it does not mean that the structure has been taken away.
“The change of logo is that of the Kwankwasiyya people, it does not concern us.
“I am telling you that what they did there is an exercise in futility. You recall that even the court asked them not to do it. They went against the pronouncement of the court to do what they did. That is number one.
“Number two, what they did there is essentially the Kwankwasiyya thing that they did. It does not concern us. Just like you have in Labour Party, NNPP belongs to an association called NAGAFF, it means National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders.
“So, you cannot come and say you are changing logo of the party and slogan without recourse to the original founders of the party, which is NAGAFF, the founding organization, and the founder of the party, Dr Boniface Aniebonam.
“So what they did there is exercise in futility, and in the next few weeks, a pronouncement will be made on it. It does not concern us.
“Technically, they may tell you they have changed something, but that is entirely their business, it does not concern us.
“We are now preparing for our convention, NNPP convention proper. We are getting set for it. We will fix the date very soon, we will let you know.
“The new person that emerged is not for our party; it is for the Kwankwasiyya group. I am telling you that these people, we have no business with them anymore.
“You know that we had a Memorandum of Understanding that brought them to us.
“We have dissolved this MoU a long time ago. This is what we keep telling the press every day. We cannot continue to explain over and over again.
“NAGAFF is an Igbo association with people from across the country, but it originated from Anambra State. If the right thing has to be said, we rely heavily on you press men, to tell the world the right thing.
“It is their business they are doing. I am a signatory to that MoU. We have dissolved it. Aniebonam was a signatory to the MoU. It has been dissolved and registered in court.
“They are still carrying on, pretending and telling the whole world that they are still in NNPP and that they are still doing what they are doing. And we are telling the world that these people are no longer part of us.
“They came for the purpose of the 2023 election and they have gone. We sent them away. People have to be told the truth.
“The matter stopping the convention is in court, telling the whole world that these people are not our members and they cannot gather in the name of NNPP anywhere not to talk of changing logo.
“They will tell you that INEC was there. But the argument is that the leadership of the party that INEC has in its record still has not changed. But for us as a party, we know that the leadership has changed. The 2022 convention that INEC monitored is the record they still have and that is what they are working with.
“The law is there and once the law speaks, they will change. They are only doing what they are constituted to do which is to superintend over the affairs of political parties.
“So, they are only deceiving people who do not know what is happening in the party. I am still the chairman of the party.”
But the National Publicity Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, fired back and dismissed Agbo’s narration, that the court did not approve the convention.
Olayoku maintained that Agbo and his followers have been shopping for ruling to enable them get back to the party.
“They went to the court to stop the convention. But the court did not grant their request.
“The court ruled that they cannot stop the convention because they did not present sufficient reasons to stop it.
“I have a judgement where the court stopped them from parading themselves as members of the party. These guys are in court struggling to come back.”