The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has strongly rebuked former presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso for labeling members of his Kwankwasiyya Movement who 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, as he was expelled long ago along with 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 with Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasia movement after the presidential elections in 2023," Major stated.
The controversy erupted after Kwankwaso 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, along with some federal lawmakers from the state.
Kwankwaso had made these comments at his Miller Road residence in Kano last Friday when members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement from Takai Local Government Area visited him on invitation.
The NNPP chairman clarified 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 alleged that Kwankwaso lost respect from his followers when he "tried to bite the fingers that gave him the presidential ticket on trust without any financial obligations."
Major emphasized that members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, as Nigerian citizens, are legally free to join any political party of their choice. He suggested that the defections to the APC indicate Kwankwaso has lost control of his movement.
"Kwankwaso has long been expelled from the NNPP and should either register his own party or look for another political platform to hijack," Major concluded, noting that the NNPP was registered in 2002, long before Kwankwaso's entrance in 2023.
