How Kwankwaso, Aniebonam’s power tussle further split NNPP

The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has the potential for credible opposition and preparation for a better outing at the next general elections. But typical of all the opposition parties, it is showing symptoms of a divided house, suffering from command and control malaise, and perhaps at higher temperature, KEHINDE OLATUNJI reports.

One of the major impacts of the lingering crisis in the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), which currently controls the most populous state, Kano, is that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, is distracted as to which of the warring factions he would follow.

This is affecting governance in the state and also opening Kano for the Federal Government’s controlled All Progressives Congress (APC) to penetrate at will. From the traditional institution to its politics, economy and social endeavour, NNPP’s unresolved challenges are taking a toll.

Perhaps this was what prompted the recent outcry from a former governor of the state and presidential candidate of NNPP, in the 2023 general elections, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, who alleged what he called “Lagos”, of attempting to dominate Kano and other northern states.

Kwankwaso raised the alarm during the convocation ceremony of Skyline University in Kano, where he alleged that Lagos was meddling in Kano’s internal matters, particularly in the selection of the Emir of Kano.

The erstwhile Minister of Defence also alleged that there were a lot of efforts from the Lagos axis to colonise Kano. He accused Lagos powerful bloc of preventing Kano from choosing an emir, contending that some forces were interfering in the economy and politics of the state among others.

The NNPP imbroglio is currently fought on three different fronts with the Kwankwaso faction on one side, the party’s founder, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, on one side, and the Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s loyalists standing apart.

Aniebonam and Kwankwaso are currently locked in a bitter struggle for the control of the party, which seems to have led to a series of dramatic developments, including the suspension of Kwankwaso by the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) for alleged anti-party activities and later expulsion, just as the BoT also suspended the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

To assert his authority, the Kwankwaso-led faction in a quick response expelled Aniebonam, the founder and chairman of the BoT, along with some other members. The move was announced in a statement by Ladipo Johnson, a chieftain of the party loyal to Kwankwaso after a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

The crisis began when the chairman suspected plans by Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya Movement to change the party’s logo “to prepare the NNPP for the task ahead.” Sensing a foul play, the founder of the party wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) intimating it of the alleged plan by some groups to change the party’s logo.

The party also wrote Kwankwaso, to end the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it entered into with the Kwankwasiyya group and The National Movement created by him for the 2023 general election.

Kwankwaso, who had alongside other party faithful, factionalised the party, dared the party leadership and formally unveiled a new logo for the party, describing the action as being part of their efforts to reposition NNPP.

According to him, the decision was reached following NNPP’s 2023 post-elections performance assessment, saying “the new logo speaks to their desire to have a widely educated Nigerian populace. It also reflects the party’s commitment to peaceful development.”

This action consequently triggered animosity between the two, with Aniebonam claiming insubordination and an attempt by the former governor to hijack the party from him.

From this perspective, it is trite to say that the unfolding developments may definitely have significant implications for NNPP’s future and its ability to remain a viable force in Nigerian politics come next year, just as it may make it vulnerable to the superior state’s power of President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government.

As the power struggle between Aniebonam and Kwankwaso escalates, it remains to be seen how the party will emerge from this tumultuous period and retain its strength ahead of the next general election.

Recall that the ruling APC is still nursing the wounds of how it was defeated by NNPP in Kano during the 2023 governorship election and the incumbent National Chairman of APC, Umar Ganduje, the immediate past governor of the state, whose preferred candidate lost to Governor Yusuf, is still desperate to salvage his political career in Kano. A comeback in 2027 will guarantee him this feat.

Ironically, the NNPP lingering crisis has led to a series of legal battles, with each group suspending and expelling one another from the party.

Another bone of contention is the status of the Kwankwasiyya Movement in the party, which some loyalists of Governor Yusuf are insisting that the incumbent must do away with. Their grouse is that the former governor has no political grip whatsoever on Governor Yusuf, whom according to them won the 2023 election on a personal popularity and not as a result of the Kwankwasiyya Movement.

As succinctly put by Bisi Olopoeyan, “Governor Yusuf was the candidate of the PDP in the 2019 governorship poll and he nearly defeated former Governor Umar Ganduje of APC, if the election was not manipulated. It was on the popularity of Yusuf that NNPP won in 2023 and not because of Kwankwaso and or his Kwankwasiyya group. There is therefore no reason the incumbent should be held to ransom by any godfather.”

On the implications of the crisis, who resigned his membership of NNPP on Wednesday, averred that Governor Yusuf is seriously being distracted and hardly, is he concentrating on governance to yield the dividends of democracy to the people.

Indeed sources within the Kano NNPP also alleged that the governor himself has grown frustrated with Kwankwaso’s unilateral control over key decisions, including the appointment of local government chairmen.

In an interaction with The Guardian, Aniebonam stressed that the group, which was part of the NNPP before the 2023 election, have long left after the election. He disclosed that Kwankwaso had filed a suit against him (Aniebonam) in the Kano State High Court, saying it came as a surprise to him that the case was recently withdrawn.

He stated: “This was a case targeted at rewarding me with embarrassment despite the level of benevolence extended to them in my country home in Umuawulu in 2022, when they came to ask for my assistance to use the party’s platform for the 2023 general election, a request I granted without any financial consideration or commitment instead I donated money for operational take off.

“It is very simple to understand the level of ill advice Senator Kwankwaso has been getting from questionable characters around him. Those who lack competence in their choosen endeavours choose to stay around the man to enable them service their stomachs instead of going to practise their trade if they have any, Aniebonam posited.

He maintained that Kwankwaso, Buba Galadima and the entire defunct and NWC members of the Kwankwasiyya group “masquerading” as NNPP are inconsequential in the party.

Speaking on the crisis, the Lagos State Chairman of NNPP, Ronnie Dikko-Kila, dismissed the allegation that Kwankwaso is working to hijack the party, describing Aniebonam as just one of the founders of the party.

She said, “Nigerians, especially the media, should understand that by the provisions of our constitution and the Electoral Act, it would be an aberration for one man to found or own a political party.”

When asked what led to the crisis in the party, she stated that there were differences between some of Aniebonam’s nominees to the National Working Committee (NWC), pointing out that “it got to a stage where Dr Aniebonam felt he could override the decisions of NWC and NEC, and so the unfortunate action against him and some others.”

She claimed that the Kwankwasiya and The National Movement (TNM) groups, which are factions in the party, are now dominant in the party, adding that any talk about hijacking is purely sentimental and intentionally uncharitable. There has been no ‘hijack.’ A party is run based on democratic principles. It is clear that the TNM and also the Kwankwasiyya Movement are now the dominant groups (membership-wise) within the party.”

Reacting to the reports on how the court had sacked Kwankwaso from the party, Dikko said, “Aniebonam and co, got the spurious judgment from a corner of Abia State, without serving the national secretariat of the party, and without informing the court that there is a subsisting judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, which has confirmed that they are not members of the NNPP.”

On the clarification regarding the founder of the party, Dikko said, “It is not a possibility that Dr Aniebonam founded the party. Each Nigerian joins the party as an individual, and it is open to all qualified Nigerians.”

She, however, dismissed the reported expulsion of Kwankwaso from the party by Aniebonam, arguing that the so-called founder was referring to his own unregistered and unrecognised NNPP, which is not the same party that we belong to. The party we belong to is registered and recognised by INEC, the Electoral Act, and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Party, Dr Major Agbo, maintained that the High Court in Abia state has transferred the task of managing the party to its Board of Trustees (BOT)under the leadership of Aniebonam.

While explaining that the crisis in the party escalated due to management issues resulting from breach of trust, corruption and high handedness on the part of Kwankwaso, Agbo said: “The illegal dismissal of state chairmen and dissolution of party structure in about 11 states without fair hearing and in utter neglect of constitutional provisions and laid down disciplinary procedures were some of the remote causes of the crisis.”

Other reasons were the deliberate attempt to mutilate the colours, flag, logo and slogan of the party without consultation with the founding fathers of the party.

Agbo, who confirmed the alleged attempt by Kwankwaso to hijack the party but that the efforts were foiled especially with the recent Abia High Court judgment, expressed concern that to unseat the ruling APC, it is a must for opposition parties to form an alliance, without which it may be difficult to achieve.

With the beleaguered state of the major opposition platforms, President Tinubu may contest as an unpopular candidate in 2027 but without a credible opposition to challenge him, if major opposition political parties are left in persistent disarray.

Meanwhile, a political analyst, Kunle Egbeyemi, who commented on the intra-party crisis rocking NNPP decried the actions of Kwankwaso, lamenting that Nigeria’s political space lacks integrity and values.