NNPP Chieftain Declares Gov Yusuf Party Leader, Dismisses Kwankwaso’s Claims

A senior figure in the New Nigeria Peoples Party has stated that Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf, not former presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso, is the national leader of the party.

Alhaji Sani Danmasani, the NNPP National Vice Chairman for the North-West, made the clarification in a statement issued on Tuesday. He said the party’s constitution clearly recognises Governor Yusuf as its leader, stressing that he is currently the only sitting governor elected on the NNPP platform.

According to Danmasani, Kwankwaso’s leadership role ended after the 2023 general election, following the expiration of the Memorandum of Association between the NNPP and the Kwankwasiya Movement. He added that it was public knowledge that Kwankwaso and some key members of the movement were later expelled from the party over alleged anti-party activities.

The NNPP chieftain expressed concern over what he described as persistent misrepresentation by the media, noting that continued reference to Kwankwaso as the party’s leader had created confusion and led to political negotiations being wrongly conducted in the name of the NNPP.

He said discussions regarding alliances for the 2027 elections involving Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasiya Movement were not illegal in themselves, but insisted such talks would be invalid if carried out under the NNPP’s platform. Danmasani stressed that only the party’s founder and life member of the Board of Trustees, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, and the National Executive Committee led by Dr Agbo Gilbert, have the authority to negotiate on behalf of the party.

Danmasani maintained that any negotiations conducted outside these recognised structures were null and void. He said Kwankwaso and his associates were free, as Nigerian citizens, to engage with any political party of their choice, but not as representatives or members of the NNPP, emphasising that their expulsion remained in force.

He also appealed to Kwankwaso to stop using the NNPP’s name to criticise the ruling party and the presidency. In his remarks on national issues, Danmasani argued that President Bola Tinubu should not be blamed for Nigeria’s current security and economic challenges, saying those problems existed before his administration.

He expressed optimism that with international support from what he described as “friends of Nigeria” such as the United States and Israel, the country would overcome its challenges. He added that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration reflected an acknowledgment that Nigeria’s difficulties predated the current government.

Danmasani concluded by urging the media to use Kwankwaso’s correct designation as a former senator, former governor of Kano State and the NNPP’s 2023 presidential candidate, but not as the party’s leader. He also expressed hope that ongoing judicial processes would prompt the Independent National Electoral Commission to update its official records accordingly.