Less than six months after the 2023 general elections in which the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) made good impact, crises have engulfed the party.
In the last polls, the NNPP snatched the governorship seat in Kano State from the All Progressives Congress (APC), which had a sitting governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, as we’ll as winning two senatorial seats. It also produced 20 House of Representatives members with numerous slots in the State House of Assembly.
The NNPP achieved the feat largely because of the political sagacity and influence of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who has a cult-like political fellowship in Kano and some other parts of the North.
But the fortune of the party is fast eroding because of the lingering internal wrangling, which has led to the expulsion of the Delta and Ogun states chairmen, Efe Tobor and Sunday Olappsi Ogini respectively, for alleged engagement in anti-party activities in the last general elections.
NNPP National Publicity Secretary, Major Agbo, explained that before Tobor and Ogini were shown the way out, a disciplinary committee to look into their offenses was set up, but the embattled chairmen, he said, shunned two different invitations from the committee.
Piqued by their civil disobedience, he added, the National Working Committee of the party decided to throw them out.
He also said that aside from that, the NWC concluded that the executives from the affected states, down to the local government and wards, would be dissolved effective from April 27, 2023.
His words: “It is very disheartening that some members of our party engaged in anti-party activities by aligning openly with other parties in the last election.
“You will agree with me that no party worth its salt will condone such misdemeanor.
“Unfortunately, some states chairmen and their executives, apart from very loud anti- party activities were accused of a plethora of wrongdoings, which negated their oath of office.
“This prompted the National Working Committee (NWC) to set up a disciplinary committee to investigate three states, Edo, Delta, and Ogun.
“While the Edo State chairman appeared before the disciplinary committee, the Delta State Chairman, Chief Efe Tobor and his Ogun State counterpart, Comrade Sunday Olappsi Ogini failed to appear on the two occasions they were invited.
“Consequently, the NWC met on Thursday, April 27, 2023 and came up with the following decisions:
“That both the Chairman NNPP in Delta State, Chief Efe Tobor and his Ogun State counterpart, Comrade Olaposi Sunday Ogini have been expelled from the party, with effect from Thursday, April 27, 2023
“That the Executives from the state, down to the Local Government and Ward levels in Delta and Ogun states have been dissolved effective Thursday, April 27, 2023.”
But as soon as the dust raised in Delta and Ogun states is beginning to settle, another infighting ensued in the Imo State chapter of the party, when some chieftains in the state decided to suspend the Chairman, Charles Duruimo.
Duruimo, just like Tobor and Ogini, was accused of anti-party activities. But the national body of NNPP stepped in and nullified the suspension.
The party’s acting National Chairman, Abba Kawu-Ali, directed the aggrieved parties to sheathe their swords until the matter is looked into.
Speaking on behalf of the party, Agbo said: “Recently, there is a leadership disagreement in the Imo State Chapter of our great party in which the State Chairman, Chief Charles Duruimo was purportedly suspended by aggrieved officers in the state over alleged anti-party activities.
“The national leadership of the party led by Alhaji Abba Kawu-Ali has stepped into the matter with a view to amicably resolving it in the interest of the party and the good people of Imo State who desire a new and better Nigeria on the platform of NNPP.
“Accordingly, the National Working Committee (NWC) directs that status quo should be maintained in the Imo State Chapter Executive led by Chief Charles Duruimo.
“All actions taken by the two sides in the leadership disagreement are null and void, and of no effect in running the affairs of the party in Imo State.
“The affected officers of the party in Imo State did not explore the appropriate channel of communication and procedure in handling the dispute in line with the clear provisions of NNPP’s constitution.
“In the next few days, the Imo State Executive will be invited to Abuja to firmly resolve the matter and move the party forward.
“The need for peace, unity, teamwork and synergy in running the affairs of the party in Imo State cannot be overemphasized as we prepare for the November 2023 governorship election in the State.”
Regardless of the intervention, some chieftains of the party are afraid that the imbroglio would hamper the party’s chances from making a headway in the November 11 governorship election in Imo, because of the caliber of other contestants like Governor Hope Uzodimma of the APC and Samuel Anyanwu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), among others.
Besides the squabbles in the state chapters, the demolition spree in Kano State by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, seems to be upsetting some sympathisers of the party.
A stalwart, Sanusi Balarabe, recently poured out his displeasure and described the action of Governor Yusuf as irresponsible.
Balarabe, who serves as a member of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, in a viral video on YouTube, said the action would spell doom for the party in subsequent polls.
He confessed that most people voted for the NNPP because of the antecedents of the former governor of the state, Senator Kwankwaso.
An ostensibly angry Balarabe noted that all the shops demolished Yusuf belong to Kano traders and not foreigners from Niger Republic or elsewhere, adding that the action would plunge most traders into debt.
He added that the shops would have been put to better use if they were taken over by the government or better still reallocated to the less privileged at reasonably affordable rates rather than to destroy them.
“In all honesty, none of us voted the government knowing it will carry out these demolitions. It is wastage to demolish property indiscriminately and, therefore, outright unreasonable and condemnable.
“Even if they were owned by Nigeriens, at least they are human beings with entitlements, they improve the revenue base of the state by paying taxes to government which makes it a huge wastage to demolish ordinarily productive assets.
“If, for instance, each owner of a demolished shop were to pay just N1,000 in taxation to government, it would sum up to a huge sum which could be useful to the state.
“If, for instance, a small scale trader who cannot afford N1 million rent for a shop at Kasuwan Kwari were to be allocated a plot in these targeted locations for like N100,000, it would be far better than demolishing them which is nothing, but waste,” Alhaji Balarabe, leader of the Mu Hadu Mu Gyara group, said in the video.
Reacting to the government claim that the structures being demolished were illegally erected, Balarabe argued that even at that, due process must have to be diligently followed by first setting up a commission of inquiry and other processes.
“It is a gross mistake and blatant abuse of power for government to embark on such destruction without recourse to legal processes and it will be setting the wrong example to use a wrong to correct another wrong,” he said.
But the publicity secretary of the party has allayed the anxieties of most people, stating that disagreement was inevitable in any political family.
(THE SUN)
