Kwankwaso declines comments on suspension as NNPP crisis deepens

The internal crisis rocking the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Kano may have assumed a new dimension, as the national leader, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, declined comments on the suspension of top stalwarts.

NNPP State Chairman, Hashim Dungurawa, Monday evening, announced suspension of Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Abdullahi Baffa Bichi, and Commissioner for Transport, Mohammed Degol, for alleged abuse of power and insubordination.

Kwankwaso, who refused to field questions from journalists, who were at his Miller Road mansion within the metropolis, however, seemed to have endorsed the party chairman’s decision.

He said: “I don’t want to talk please. Don’t drag me into what I am not supposed to be dragged into. The chairman of the party has spoken, and has been speaking, reach out to him.”

The NNPP national leadership, who was busy holding meetings with various stakeholders, was said to have denied access to party leaders from Dambatta and Bichi, where the suspended SSG and commissioner hail from.

Meanwhile, feelers from stakeholders indicated that the embattled officials might be sacked pending conclusion of their investigation. The SSG was alleged to have sponsored the growing division between the Kwankwasiyya leader and Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf.

Signs of division emanated when a splinter group claimed undue interference of Kwankwaso in the administration of Yusuf, urging the governor to stand firm and take control of state power.

Although, the SSG distanced himself from the group, another faction from his Bichi country home accused him of spearheading the division. Just recently, his younger sister, Lamin Bichi, who decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC), told the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibril, in Abuja that her brother would soon join her.