The gale of sanctions on alleged errant members and chieftains of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is gradually drifting the party to oblivion, MURTALA ADEWALE reports.
The internal crisis rocking New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is far from over with expulsions and counter expulsion of party executives stoking the fire.
Members of National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party had expelled the standard bearer at the last Presidential election, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, for allegedly refusing to appear before the party’s disciplinary committee to clear himself from sundry allegations bordering on anti-party activities and gross mismanagement of party resources.
However, his expulsion was in defiance of the decision of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, which had earlier suspended NEC members for their alleged role in the party’s dismal performance at the last general elections.
The NEC, which comprises 36 states chairmen of the party, insisted that Kwankwaso’s failure to honour the committee’s invitation on August 29, 2023 to clarify allegations leveled against him necessitated his expulsion from the party.
In a statement issued by the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, “NEC met in an emergency session on Friday, September 1, and resolved as follows, that following the refusal of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to appear before the disciplinary committee, which sat on August 31 after being duly invited in writing, he is hereby expelled from NNPP with immediate effect.
“That Kwankwaso should report to appropriate quarters to answer questions on financial impropriety relating to mismanagement of public funds.”
But in a counter to the decision of the NEC, the NWC of the party dismissed the sanction on the presidential candidate of the party, noting that those who expelled Kwankwaso did not have the constitutional backing to carry out such an exercise.
The Chairman of the disciplinary committee set up by the party, Ladipo Johnson, said the personalities behind the action against Kwankwaso were detractors sponsored by external forces.
He said: “We know their limitations according to the NNPP constitution, Electoral Act, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines, and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
But since their mission, in collaboration with our detractors from outside the party, is to create confusion and distraction, the party, as a law-abiding organisation that believes in the rule of law, decided to approach the courts to put a stop to their evil machinations of disrupting our programmes for subsequent elections.
“To this end, the NNPP, as a party, approached the court to help restore sanity in the polity. It is an open secret that these former members are not backed by law in all they are doing. The arrowheads have ceased to be members of the party by virtue of their suspension/expulsion.”
Trouble started when the forum of NNPP chairmen accused Kwankwaso of using the party platform to negotiate ministerial appointments from President Bola Tinubu shortly after the election. The forum, under the leadership of Sunday Oginni, demanded an open explanation from Kwankwaso over his political romance with President Tinubu.
Dissatisfied with how Kwankwaso ignored them, Oginni insisted that Kwankwaso had violated the constitution of the party and as such had resigned from the party to enable him to properly settle his political ambition with Tinubu.
Besides, Oginni also accused Kwankwaso of collaborating with some NWC members to amend the constitution of the party to help in their attempt to hijack the party’s structure.
He said: “It’s on record that neither Senator Kwankwaso nor any of his cohorts at the NWC committed a dime to the building of structures of the party they are not ashamed to demolish within a twinkle of an eye. The illegality of the arbitrary sacking of democratically elected officers of the party by Senator 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 exist. The hidden truth is revealing Senator Kwankwaso is the one behind all these unconstitutional actions of the NWC. We are using this opportunity to appeal to Nigerians to be patient and prayerful for the emergence of the new Nigeria of our collective dreams.”
Before the Oginni-led NEC called for Kwankwaso’s resignation, the NWC of the party had sacked seven states executives in Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Rivers and Zamfara from state and local to the ward levels for working against the party during the general elections.
However, the secretary of the Board of Trustee (BoT) of the party, Babayo Muhammad Abdullahi, has faulted NWC members for suspending the state executives, wondering why Kwankwaso should be excused from the disciplinary action for his consistent meeting with President Tinubu.
According to Abdullahi, the dissolution of the state executives was an irregularity contravening the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act 2022. He argued that the real anti-party activity emanated from Kwankwaso, who was fraternising with candidates of other political parties in his desperate attempt to curry favour.
He said: “We wonder why a disciplinary committee would sit without showing those accused of anti-party activities a copy of the petition against them. How can the committee come to a conclusion without revealing the petitioners and their status in the party?
“Article 39 Subsection 6 of NNPP constitution states: ‘Where it is proposed to expel a member of the executive committee from the party, such a proposal shall be submitted to NEC. Where then did NWC derive its power to unilaterally expel the chairman of Ogun State, Oginni Sunday? Isn’t this a gross violation of Article 39(6) of the NNPP constitution? Any act that violates the Constitution is, to the extent of its inconsistency, null and void.”
Prior to the presidential inauguration, Tinubu held a closed-door meeting with Kwankwaso along with other prominent members of NNPP in Paris, the capital city of France. Though the thrust of the meeting was not made public, many said the meeting was part of a strategic move by Tinubu to woo Kwankwaso back to APC.