By Olusegun Olanrewaju, with agency report

The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) yesterday strolled into the infamous hallway of crisis as two factions at the national level announced the suspension of the presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and a founding member/leader of the party, Boniface Aniebonam.

Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, who came forth in the February 25 presidential election, was suspended by the group led by NNPP chieftains, Aniebonam and Agbo Major.

The group led by Aniebonam and Major suspended Kwankwaso at a special general assembly held at the Rock View Hotels in the Apapa area of Lagos State.

The group said ‘material evidence’ in public affirmed that Kwankwaso was involved in anti-party activities in various meetings and political discussions with President Bola Tinubu, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart in the February 25 election, Atiku Abubakar; and Labour Party (LP)’s Peter Obi.

The group said Kwankwaso’s political hobnobbing earned him six months’ suspension pending the outcome of an investigation by a disciplinary committee.

The Aniebonam and Major group, which controls the NNPP Board of Trustees, also suspended the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

In a communique released at the end of the meeting of the party members in Lagos, Aniebonam resigned as BoT Chairman with Tope Aluko elected as his replacement and Babayo Abdulahi as new BoT Secretary.

The Aniebonam group declared the NWC as “incompetent and due to attrition and failure of the members to follow the constitution and due process in filling of the vacant positions, the NWC can no longer perform its role and is no longer relevant in the eyes of the law”.

The group that met in Lagos took strong exception to Buba Galadima’s parading of himself as BoT Secretary.

“This conduct violates the composition of the members of the BOT under our constitution”.

The communique partly read, “The appointment of new national officers headed by Dr Agbo Major as acting National Chairman and Comrade Ogini Olaposi as acting National Secretary with about 18 others were affirmed by the BoT.

“The recent unconstitutional and purported dissolution of seven state executives of Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Rivers, and Zamfara at the same time is unacceptable.

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“It is on record that neither Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso nor any of his cohorts at the National Working Committee (NWC) committed a dime to building structures of the party, which they are not ashamed to demolish in a twinkle of an eye. The empty threat of NWC coming in later days for the jugular of Imo and Oyo states shall not see the light of day.

“Also, the arrogant display of executive lawlessness by the NWC in the Ogun State chapter has led to protracted litigation that may drag to the Supreme Court.

“The illegality of arbitrary sacking of democratically elected officers of the party by Kwankwaso’s NWC, acting like a garrison commander, is a heinous crime against democracy and humanity. This is New Nigeria! Thus, illegality and brazen murder of democracy shall not stand in the NNPP.”

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In a swift reaction, the NNPP yesterday expelled its BoT chairman, Aniebonam, and several other national officers over alleged anti-party activities.

The National Publicity Secretary, Major, and a host of other officials were affected by the sweep.

Its National Legal Adviser, Mr Robort Hon, who said this at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, accused them of sabotaging NNPP.

Hon accused Aniebonam of creating a parallel group within the party to cause disaffection in the party.

“At the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the NNPP held in Abuja today, August 29th, 2023, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, Agbo Major, and several others were expelled from the party.

“The NEC also moved several other motions relating to the Logo of the party, the Amendment of the constitution, ratification of the state caretaker committees, and suspension of two Articles in the constitution of the NNPP 2022.

“At the meeting were Gov. Abba Yusuf of Kano State; the Acting National Chairman, Malam Abah-Kawu Ali; the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly; Engr. Buba Galadima and many others.

“NEC noted that these suspended persons (now expelled) purportedly held a Board of Trustees meeting in Apapa, Lagos, this morning. Naturally, their meeting was null and void and had no effect,” said the NNPP’s legal adviser.

He said that the party’s NEC upheld motions to extend the tenure of the acting national chairman, Malam Abah-Kawu Ali, and to redesign the party’s logo.

In his remarks, Gov. Abba Yusuf of Kano state said he would continue to work closely with Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso in his efforts to reposition the NNPP.

Also addressing the NEC, the National Secretary of the party, Mr Olayoku Dipo, said that the party was in the process of setting up a properly constituted BoT in line with its constitution.

Dipo said that the party’s leadership was planning to change NNPP’s logo, adding that the party’s fortune at the 2023 general elections was affected by the current logo.

Also, the NNPP BoT Secretary, Buba Galadima, commended the party’s NWC for its role in stabilising the party.

In a related development, the factional BoT of the NNPP, led by Aniebonam, suspended the party’s Presidential Candidate, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso at its meeting in Lagos.

The Secretary of the BoT, Malam Babayo Abdullahi, said that Kwankwaso had been suspended for six months over anti-party activities, adding that it also suspended the NWC of the party.

Abdullahi said that the suspension was put to a voice vote by members of the party at the special general assembly in Lagos.

“The BoT also appointed new national officers headed by Dr Agbo Major as acting National Chairman and Comrade Ogini Olaposi as acting National Secretary, alongside about 18 others,” he said.