The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has distanced itself from reports suggesting it plans to merge with the All Progressives Congress (APC), stating that such moves are solely the actions of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiya Movement.
Speaking in Lagos on Monday, the National Secretary of the NNPP, Dr Ogini Olaposi, clarified that the party itself has no agreement or ongoing negotiations with the APC.
Kwankwaso, a former Kano State governor and the NNPP’s 2023 presidential candidate, had announced on Saturday that he and his supporters were ready to join the ruling party. However, he stressed that his movement would not allow itself to be used and discarded.
Reacting, Dr Olaposi said, “At last, we have been vindicated. All negotiations by any party with Kwankwaso should be done in his individual capacity. He and his group were expelled from the NNPP for anti-party activities.”
He added that Kwankwaso’s declaration confirmed that he and his movement were no longer part of the NNPP, noting that the Memorandum of Understanding between the party and the Kwankwasiya Movement ended after the 2023 general elections.
“The crisis began because, rather than leave peacefully, they began to plan to hijack the party. We can’t wait to see them at another party,” he said.
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Dr Olaposi further claimed that most of Kwankwaso’s followers in Kano had already defected to the APC, and that Kwankwaso no longer has a political platform.
“His political value dipped after betraying the NNPP, which gave him a free platform for his presidential ambition,” Olaposi stated. “Any negotiation in the name of the NNPP is null and void because they remain expelled from our party.”
He concluded by calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to expedite the process of recognising the NNPP’s new leadership, led by Dr Agbo Major, following a court-ordered convention.
