The national leadership of the New Nigeria People’s Party has condemned former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, for accusing the party of receiving sponsorship from the Federal Government in relation to the expulsion of its former presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, and the suspension of Kano Governor, Abba Yusuf.
The National Secretary of NNPP, Comrade Oginni Olaposi, in a statement made available to our correspondent on Wednesday, dismissed El-Rufai’s claims as a desperate attempt to distract from the real issues at hand, describing his statement as the “rantings of a drowning man.”
El-Rufai, who recently defected from the All Progressives Congress to the Social Democratic Party, had alleged that the Federal Government is behind the internal crises and litigation rocking the country’s opposition parties.
The former Kaduna governor specifically pointed to the NNPP’s actions against Kwankwaso and Yusuf as part of a larger political conspiracy.
“The last thing I read about the NNPP was that one faction of the party has expelled Kwankwaso and the sitting governor.
“When you see things like that, you will know it is a contrived crisis. Which party sacks a sitting governor? And that is the only governor they have. I cannot mention names because I don’t have the details,” he said.
Reacting, the NNPP’s national secretary demanded that El-Rufai retract his statements and tender a public apology within 48 hours.
Olaposi provided a series of pointed questions, claiming that the allegations of federal interference were baseless and unfounded.
He stated that Kwankwaso had sought the NNPP platform in 2022, and that the real issues stemmed from internal leadership conflicts, not external interference.
The party’s scribe outlined several key events leading up to the crisis, including accusations against Kwankwaso of financial mismanagement, embezzlement of party funds, and the illegal alteration of the party’s logo.
He argued that Kwankwaso and his allies had defied internal party processes meant to resolve disputes, undermining the party’s operations.
He added, “To set the record straight and to educate Mallam Nasir El Rufai on the genesis and revelations of the crisis that led to the expulsion of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the subsequent suspension of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State, we shall ask Mallam Nasir El Rufai to ask his friend (Kwankwaso) to answer some of the following questions before the allegations of interference or sponsorship by the Federal Government can be substantiated.
“Was it the Federal Government that asked Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to go to Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam in February 2022 to beg for the NNPP platform?
“Was it the Federal Government that orchestrated the illegal change of the NNPP logo to that of Kwankwaso’s private school and his Kwankwasia group?
“Was it the Federal Government that asked Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his now-expelled NWC members to embezzle funds received from the sale of nomination forms for the 2023 elections? And was it the Federal Government that instituted a petition to the EFCC on the fraud of over N2.5 billion against Kwankwaso and his NWC?
“The Federal Government had no role in the internal workings of our party. Kwankwaso and his cohorts are responsible for the crisis.”
While demanding an apology from El-Rufai, Olaposi threatened that the party would take legal action against the former governor if the apology was not issued within the stipulated 48-hour period.
“Consequently, we are calling on Mallam Nasir El Rufai to publicly tender an unreserved apology to the Founder of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Dr Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam, and the party leadership on the unfortunate allegation of sponsorship by the federal government.
“We are giving Mallam Nasir El Rufai the next 48 hours to tender his apology for his reckless statement or face prosecution for a defamatory statement against the innocent leaders of the New Nigeria People’s Party,” he noted.
