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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Before the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the electoral victory of the only governor of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano State, the fringe opposition party had been enmeshed in a plethora of problems.
These problems range from leadership crises, eligibility of candidates to vie for elective positions in the 2023 general elections and merger plans ahead of the 2027 plebiscite.
The political atmosphere was charged when two factions emerged; both laying claim to the soul of NNPP. One was loyal to the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who literally breathed life into the party with his cult of followers and influence. The other headed by Boniface Aniebonam who founded the party over 15 years ago.
The faction faithful to Aniebonam had claimed that amid the legal limbo, Governor Yusuf was not validly elected by the party, saying that Kwankwaso handpicked him to contest.
The submission rattled Kwankwaso’s men who repeatedly parried and termed the claim as mere fallacy. In fact, they alleged that those disgruntled members were sponsored by All Progressives Congress (APC), to destabilize the party.
Recall that the Kano State Electoral Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in two different judgements sacked Yusuf and recognised the APC candidate, Nasir Gawuna, as the duly elected governor.
What became the order of the day were protests and counter protests. Aggrieved Kwankwaso’s foot soldiers besieged headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), United States Embassy, British High Commission in Abuja among other influential places, to register their displeasure.
But the recent favourable ruling has laid to rest the protracted legal limbo even as political observers are waiting with bated breath to see if both warring camps would bury their political differences and realign ahead of subsequent elections.
Aniebonam’s recognised National Chairman, Dr Major Agbo, who spoke exclusively to The Daily Sun, said they were ready for peace and reconciliation.
Agbo added that he expects the governor whom he referred to as the authentic national leader of the party to tackle whatever had divided NNPP frontally.
He denied ever saying that Yusuf was never elected by the party to fly the flag of NNPP after the primaries.
He, however, insisted that his camp would not recognise Kwankwaso as the national leader of NNPP but governor Yusuf despite the former’s political influence and war chest.
“There was never anytime I said governor Yusuf was not validly elected by the party,” he denied.
He continued: “Well, there is no war in the party. But things are behind us now. We have an opportunity to look at the party again.
“The governor is not of anybody’s faction; he is an NNPP governor. And we expect him to do things the way it ought to be done. We do not see him as coming from anybody’s faction. We expect him to be a core party man.
“He is a leader of the party. But you media people continue to refer to Kwankwaso as leader of the party. Governor Kabir Yusuf is the leader. It is not for us to teach him what to do.
“He should know what to do. As a leader of the party, if your house is on fire, the right thing to do is to look for how there can be peace.
“We are not expected to tell him what to do. He should know what to do as the leader of our party.
“He is a politician. What he needs to do is to look inwards to know the problems of the party and find a way to address them frontally.
“The problem is that we have infidels, we have outsiders from the Kwankwasiyya group who came into the party with the mindset to create problems and that is what we have been battling with.
“The good thing is that they have now been sent away. The good thing is that the governor eventually has been confirmed by the Supreme court. What I mean is that Kwankwaso’s membership of the party is gone.
“He is no longer a member of our party. Nobody has terminated the membership status of the governor”, he said.
On the other hand, NNPP National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, who is obedient to Kwankwaso, insisted that the former Minister of Defense, remained the national leader of the party even though Governor Yusuf is the only elected governor on the party’s platform.
According to him, the catalogue of sins committed by Agbo and his cohorts were grievous that almost caused the political downfall of NNPP especially their diatribe, trite and romance with the APC.
Olayoku, however, reiterated the “no-permanent-friend-or-enemy-in-politics but-permanent-interest slogan,” saying that his fold would accept the “political prodigal sons and daughters, loyal to Aniebonam, if they would purge themselves of what he called “rascality” and be remorseful.
“Reconciliation is definitely what is expected for us to do that. Because we thank God the way the thing turned out. If you know the governor very well, he is a man of peace.
“He is a gentleman to the core. If you know the National Leader, Rabiu Kwankwaso, he is a man of peace. As a matter of fact, those who were trying to snatch the mandate from us said people should not worry because Kwankwaso will not fight. That is just his nature.
“As for the disgruntled members you talked about, I want you to know that in politics, there is no permanent friend or enemy, but there is a permanent interest.
“It is very unfortunate that they worked against the governor when the matter was in court. Aside from the clandestine move they were making, to justify their relationship with the APC and Ganduje, they were compelled to organise a press conference to claim that Governor Abba was not a member of NNPP.
“They didnt stop at that. They placed their press briefing speech on 4 national dailies. Do not forget that the APC plank of the Governor Yusuf’s victory was that he was not a member of the party.
“If you have some people who claimed to be members of the party and still go to the press to say Abba was not a member of the party, you can imagine the damage it did to the NNPP case.
“We thank God that INEC came forth and said this guy was a duly registered member of the party from the record before them and that he took part in all the processes and emerged as the candidate.
“Even at that, they only need to show some remorse and acknowledge that they made a mistake. And as I said, there is no permanent friend or enemy but interest.
“It is supposed to be a rallying point for us to say let us bury the hatchet and forge ahead as one big family.
“So, it is left for them to make the move and to be remorseful and purge themselves of all rascality that manifested when the matter was in Court.
“Because if you have people who claimed to be members of your party and go to the press to say this man is not a member of the party, you know that they did a great damage to our case in court.
“But because they have evidence that this man is duly registered with us on the 27 of March 2022, he has a membership card which we submitted to INEC.
“So, it is left for them to make the move and purge themselves of rascality. Is victory for all of us.
“We do not have anything against them. The party is supreme above any other person. When new members are joining the party, why will we not accept them?
“But there is a process. If you have been sanctioned by the party, there is a process to bring you back. The doors of the party are open for new members. The more, the merrier and politics is a game of numbers,” he said.
He added: “Up till tomorrow, Kwankwaso is still the leader of the party. If you are talking of the governor, then who is his leader? Kwankwaso is the national leader of the party.
“For everything we do, we give him the honour because we were able to win Kano State because of him. When he was governor of Kano State, he did a lot for the people. Since then, no other governor has matched his legacy.
“He is a very unassuming person and a shrewd politician who believes so much in politics and he is a man of peace.
“If you are very close to him, you will attest to this. Have you ever heard anything from him while this matter lasted? No. It got to a point that people started saying that he is not talking or is it that he has been compromised?
“But that is his nature. He will only offer advice. If you want to take it, that is fine. If you do not want to take it, it is still okay.”
Speaking on the merger plan ahead of 2027, a chieftain of the party, Abdulmumin Jubrin, said: “I can assure you that the position of the NNPP as at today, is still open for collaboration, alliance and even merger with all the political parties; be it APC, PDP, LP or any other party that is ready to work with us.
“But again, we have tried our best and we have decided to put ourselves together.
“Anybody who invites us, we will go and sit down and have discussions with them and see the terms and conditions.
“The most important thing is that it has to be in the interest of Nigerians. We are not making trouble with anyone.
