Group discrediting Gov. Yusuf not NNPP members – Acting Chairman

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) says groups discrediting Gov. Abba Yusuf of Kano State are not members of the party.

The acting National Chairman of the party, Mr. Abba Ali, alleged at a news conference on Thursday in Abuja that the group was working for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He said their plan was to proceed to withdraw the NNPP appeal against the Kano ruling at the Supreme Court.

“We saw it coming. That was why we issued a press release on Monday saying that some expelled members of the NNPP have been hired to discredit Yusuf and falsely claim that he is not a member of the NNPP.

“And that is exactly what they did with their World Press Conference. Nothing can be further from the truth.

“For the sake of emphasis, Yusuf is a bona fide member of the NNPP. He registered in his district, Chiranchi Ward, Gwale Local Government Area of Kano, on March 27, 2022.

“He took part in all the processes approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the Guidelines for the 2023 elections.

“His name was published in the first and second (final) lists of candidates in September 2022 for the March 18, 2023, general elections.

“This gave enough room for whoever had any issue with any candidate or nomination to approach the courts; hence, it is classified under pre-election matters as ruled by the courts, including the Supreme Court in the past,” he said.

Ali said that the party was not surprised by their antics because they had been doing that even when they were in the part before they were suspended.

He said that someone or some people who had either been suspended or expelled could not gather under any guise to act on behalf of the party.

He added that a court of competent jurisdiction had also restrained them from parading themselves as leaders of the party.

“NNPP is no longer a one-man show where some hand-picked members (by an individual) of a non-existent board can dissolve a whole NWC.”

In the Kano state governorship election, Ali said that the NNPP leadership under him has not lost faith in the judiciary.

“What we are saying is that there should be uniformity in the dispensation of justice at all times.

“If the apex court in the land (the Supreme Court) has given a ruling that a non-member of a political party cannot question the membership of someone in that party, that should be the general principle,“ he said.

On the “recent unrests” in Kano State, as described by the expelled members of the NNPP, the party under Ali is a peaceful and peace-loving one, said the acting chairman.