From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
A former State Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Kano State, Hisham Habib, Saturday, insisted that the entry of the party’s national leader, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his supporters, lifted the NNPP from obscurity to national significance.
He stated that as a member of the party and a witness of its evolution, before and after the admission of Kwankwaso and his supporters, the recent statement by the party’s founder and Chairman Board of Trustees, Boniface Aniebonam lacked decorum.
He recalled that the NNPP was at its lowest ebb before the coming of Kwankwaso, adding that its leadership was unable to support the party’s weak structures, especially at the state level.
He insisted that the founder of the party and his loyalists should be grateful to God for the coming of Kwankwaso into a party, which at that time could not sponsor its delegates to a convention, talk less of winning elections at the polls.
“Kwankwaso entrance brought NNPP to its first major victory. We won the governorship elections with the highest number in the country….the fact that no other governor scored a million votes is a milestone. Moreover the party s presence at the national assembly was unprecedented ” he added .
He further disclosed that Nigerians from all walks of life joined the NNPP simply because of the presence of Kwankwaso as majority of members nationwide saw him as the great leader with great political pedigree.
He enjoined the party’s chairman to display a better part of maturity expected of a statesman and ignore the saboteurs who are scared of the successes of the party and the future prospects.
It could be recalled that in a recent interview, Aniebonam had decried attempts by the former Governor of Kano State and his Kwankwassiyya group to hijack the party structure, describing the act as a betrayal of trust
Aniebonan who noted that he single-handedly registered and nurtured the party from 2002 to 2022, noted that he gave Kwankwaso the party platform to realize his ambition of becoming Nigeria President on a platter while rejecting attempts by Kwankwaso and his associates to hijack the party.