The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has strongly rebuked former presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso for describing members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as betrayers, insisting that Kwankwaso himself is the actual betrayer.

In a statement released on Monday in Lagos, NNPP National Chairman Dr. Agbo Major declared that Kwankwaso has no authority to speak for the party, having been expelled long ago alongside his followers led by Dr. Ahmed Ajuji.

"Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has been expelled from NNPP together with his followers. The NNPP has long severed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasia movement after the presidential elections in 2023," Major stated.

The controversy began when Kwankwaso, at his Miller Road residence in Kano on Friday evening, criticized several key NNPP members from Kano State who recently joined the APC, including Senator Abdulrahman Kawu, who represents Kano South Senatorial District in the National Assembly.

Major emphasized that the Kwankwasiyya Movement is not a political party but merely a group that was admitted into the NNPP before the 2023 presidential elections when Kwankwaso became the party's flagbearer.

"The same Kwankwaso who betrayed the trust reposed in him by the NNPP when he tried to hijack the party is the one calling others betrayers," Major said. "Nigerians have the constitutional right to join and belong to any political party."

The NNPP chairman further claimed that Kwankwaso "lost all respect from his followers when he tried to bite the fingers that gave him the presidential ticket on trust without any financial obligations."

According to Major, the defection of Kwankwasiyya members to the APC demonstrates that Kwankwaso has lost control of his movement, just as he failed in his alleged attempt to hijack the NNPP, which was registered in 2002 before his entrance in 2023.

The NNPP chairman advised Kwankwaso to either register his own party or find another political platform, as he no longer has any affiliation with the NNPP.