…Gladiators plot to leave party for APC
From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The politics of the ancient city of Kano has charged to a boiling point, following the dust raised last weekend by the suspension of four gladiators and National Assembly members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the state.
The axed legislators include: Senator Abdulraham Kawu Sumaila (Kano South); Abdullahi Sani Rogo (Rogo Federal Constituency); Abdullahi Rirum (Rano/Kibiya Federal Constituency); and Ali Maadakin Gini (Dala Federal Constituency).
Among the affected legislators, however, lay a treasure of hundreds of thousands of Kano’s voting population and a stretch of passionate loyalists, the reason many saw their suspension as a declaration of political war.
Announcing their suspension, during a media chat in the state capital, the State Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Hashimu Danguruwa, accused all of them of anti- party activities, violation of party rules and disloyalty.
He cited the failure of the Kano – South Senator, Kawu Sumaila to invite the members to the NNPP to the wedding ceremony of his daughter which took place, some days earlier, at his home town, in Sumaila town and regretted that while ignoring his party men, Kawu extended invitation to the members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“We see them as non-functional members of our party. They are doing things that are contrary to the interests and values of our party and we cannot take it anymore” he declared, stressing that the doors of the party are still open for dialogue.
However, it was obvious that he was, at this point, speaking from the two sides of his mouth.
In the actual sense, a position appeared to have been taken about the axed politicians and there may be no going back.
A party member, who spoke to Sunday Sun on condition of anonymity, said that he had weighed the eruption that happened in the state and felt that the situation should have been handled differently bearing in mind the huge implications inherent in the move.
He regretted that the calibre of the politicians suspended was weighty and, therefore, consequential to the future of the NNPP in the state, adding that the suspension actually marked, “a sad day for NNPP and nothing more”
The source, who appeared to be on the side of the suspended legislators, recalled that Kawu Sumaila was an upward-moving politician in Kano South and in the state in general, observing that he defeated a former governor and then the incumbent Senator, Kabiru Gaya, with over 100, 000 votes, polling a total of 319,557 votes to emerge victorious in 2023 polls.
He added that one of the suspended NNPP legislators, who was a former Speaker of the Kano State of Assembly was a ‘high vote catcher’ in his constituency while fearing that if the four of them collectively move with their goldmine of supporters to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the battle ahead for the two rival parties in the state would be fierce and dense.
A division long predicted
NNPP insiders in the state, however, told Sunday Sun that the suspension of the “deviant” lawmakers had become inevitable if the party was to move ahead, adding that from all indications, these legislators had already gone to their previous party and were just awaiting the right time to make their exit announcement.
“Prior to their suspension, Sumaila Kawu and his gang had been missing from NNPP meetings and engagements, including the state government’s events, functions and occasions.
“They were, however, largely seen in the company of the rival party men and their officials. For instance, while Sumaila would easily attend functions and initiatives hosted by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, he is hardly seen in the functions of the state governor, Abba Kabiru Yusuf or the NNPP.
“They were also not warm to the red-cap wearing members of the party and had maintained their space, exclusively for them and their supporters, thus escalating a sense of rivalry and difference between them and the Kwankwasiyya members,at the ward, local government up to the state levels,” he added.
Sunday Sun investigation revealed that right from the onset, it was clear that the political marriage of this evidently disparate interests was heading for the rocks.
The red flags were hoisted everywhere and it was just a matter of time.
Historically, the suspended party men were decampees that migrated from the APC to the NNPP.
Following the exigencies of the contest ahead of 2023 and in cognizance of their political value, they were speedily offered complimentary tickets to contest the 2023 elections under the NNPP.
It is also true that when they left the APC for the NNPP, they departed in good faith, with minimal injuries to the fabrics of their relationships with so many members of the APC.
The consequence is that today, they are still at home with their “mother party” and its members, a situation that is selling the impression that they are “one leg in; one leg out” and generating the rage and turmoil within the NNPP.
According to the source, “these issues were there all along, but were not well managed. The NNPP was unable to create a seamless integration between the new comers and the Kwankwassiyya members.
Sunday Sun learnt that a major flashpoint in the dispute became self evident weeks after the victory of the party at the Supreme Court, after a certain gentleman agreement reached along the line of that iconic battle was reportedly breached by the party hierarchy in the state.
“ Kawu’s issue goes beyond his personal quarrel with the state party chairman, Suleiman, whom he accused of making libelous allegation of bribery against him. He is reported, the source said, to be angry that the NNPP made him to lead an initiative, which was to pave way for their defection to the APC, only for the party to dump the idea after he had been made to commit a number of high profile personalities to the initiative.
Although the Kano Emirate dispute and the relegation of some of the emirates to second class emirates is a factor behind the protest of the likes of Kabiru Rirum, it was the handling of the nomination of the candidates of the party during the just concluded LGA elections in the state that broke the camel’s back.
Sunday Sun investigation revealed that most of these federal legislators and a whole lot of NNPP high-ranking officials were not consulted in the choice of who became the candidates of the party in their constituencies. Rather, the party’s candidates (and eventual Local Government Chairmen) were mostly picked from among the die-hard members of the Kwankwassiya Movement after they were allegedly cleared by the leader of the party, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso himself.
This selection style flared up a legion of anger among many members of the party and backgrounded the present situation.
The fear among the affected legislators, Sunday Sun gathered, is that having lost their constituencies and backgrounds to a different, but stronger faction within the party, they are like flying flags without bases.
“They are afraid that with this situation at play, their return tickets cannot be guaranteed, hence the haste they are making while the sun is shining” said a party source.
One of the striking facts about the current script is that the suspension did not come as a surprise.
Not to the victim. Not to the discerning public. They all saw the ugly-looking handwritings on the wall and had taken pre-emptive measures by aligning forces with the Boniface Aniebonam faction of the party.
It is for this reason that their response to their suspension was swift, organized, resolute and effective, forcing the Kwankwaso-led NNPP to recoil from further statements or urge for confrontation.
In the meantime, the Boniface-led faction of the party in the state has described the suspension as laughable and insignificant and unworthy of public attention.
Mas”ud el-Jibril Doguwa, a former Senator of Kano North senatorial zone in the state and current state of the Boniface-led faction of the NNPP has rubbished the purported suspension of Senator Abdulraham Kawu Sumaila and three other NNPP National Assembly members from the state.
He told Sunday Sun that the Kwankwaso-led faction of the NNPP in the state has no mandate in law or morality to suspend any official of the NNPP given the substituting judgment of an Abia High Court, which had clearly nullified their assumed leadership position of the party and withdrew their relevance in the party.
“I have the judgment of that honourable court here with me and to the best of my knowledge that judgment has not been quashed or reversed by an appellate court. So, I wonder where they assumed the powers to make that pronouncement against these highly respected members of my party,” he stated.
He asserted that going by the constitution of the NNPP,’ “no state chairman or his equivalent or any officer at the regional level or their unelected mentor has the powers to discipline, suspend or sack a NEC member of the NNPP.
“Senator Sumaila (Kano South), Rogo ( Rogo Federal Constituency), Rirum (Rano/Kibiya Federal Constituency), and Maadakin Gini (Dala Federal Constituency) are all NEC members of NNPP by virtue of their positions and ranks as elected National Assembly members of the party.”
He also charged: “Though both factions are recognized as NNPP by name, our logos are clearly different and we have no relationship whatsoever. While the Kwankwaso NNPP has books and cap as its logo, our NNPP has food and basket as our logo.
“So, for him (NNPP state chairman) to announce the suspension of our members is not only ridiculous, mischievous, deliberately misleading, but also litigious,” he stated.
He added: “In any case, there is no breach of the NNPP constitution or the Nigeria law anywhere in this matter. That someone failed to invite you to his wedding party or his private university’s ceremonies cannot be an offence by any standard. Invitation to social gathering is not official. The best you can do is to encourage your son or daughter to get married, so that you refuse to invite him.
“In any case, they were invited, but they failed to attend because they were intimidated by Kawu Sumaila’s rising profile and national visibility and acceptability.”
Doguwa regretted that their failure to simply recognize what constitutes a breach of the NNPP’s constitution, to recognize an offence in law or to recognize the right of fair hearing in their conducts and pronouncements as a party has only reaffirmed the popular notion in the public domain that the Kwankwaso-led NNPP is a stranger to simple democratic behaviour and is gravely unfamiliar with constitutional party procedures
“And I think that if they continue to make these unfortunate pronouncements, we will be left with no other option but to seek the intervention of the court,” he declared.
CONSEQUENCES
Pundits, calculating the implications of the split between the NNPP and the Federal legislators are unanimous that the loss is weighty and could affect the chances of the party in the 2027.
But they are, however, unanimous that Rabiu Kwankwaso is a great politician and had triumphed over this sort of defections and crack in his camp before.
A lot of people share this view and are waiting.
Only time will tell if Kwankwaso would again triumph over this tempest, like he did in the past when he lost a set of powerful allies like Aminu Dabo, Suleiman Bichi, among others, but returned with the trophy.