2023 ELECTION: The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), a house that Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso built for his 2023 presidential ambition have been accused of seating on a foundation that was built on injustice by his ally, Ibrahim Shekarau, Clariform has learnt.
BASIC FACTS
- Ibrahim Shekarau is a former two-term governor of Kano State, a sitting senator and a former member of the ruling APC.
- Rabiu Kwankwaso is also a former two-term governor of Kano State, a former member of the PDP and now the presidential candidate of the NNPP.
- Both are now in the NNPP as allies, but things appear to have fallen out between them in a way that tends to separate the two Kano politicians ones more.
WHATS WE KNOW
The New Nigerian Peoples Party is the platform promoted by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso for his 2023 presidential ambition, but the party is mostly of regional influence and mostly active in Kano State in particular.
Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, a sitting senator representing Kano central, was wooed into the NNPP from the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) where both politician suddenly became allies once again after walking the separate ways into the APC and PDP previously.
However, the relationship in the recent time seem to have hit troubled waters as both parties are once again making comments that suggest they may be walking on coalition course.
Shekarau has alleged that Rabiu Kwankwaso breached the agreement he reached with him before he agreed to join the NNPP in May 2022. According to the Senator, they both agreed that Shekarau`s followers will be placed in positions of authority in the party.
This however, was not honoured and about 3 months after he led his supporters to join the NNPP from APC, Kwankwaso is yet to make good the honouring of the agreement.
NOTABLE QUOTE
In a statement he made on Monday at the Kano Foundation Hall, the former Kano governor said: “All the agreements we had with him were betrayed by Kwankwaso and his boys and they did not accommodate one single person from my camp,” he said.
“We reached an agreement to accommodate my supporters into various elective positions in the party, but until now, the committee set up could not accommodate one single person apart from the senatorial slot given to me.
“I will never be a party to injustice. My integrity is utmost and not any political position that will make me compromise it and that of my people. Nobody will use position or money against my integrity.
“I am a man of honour and integrity but his governorship candidate (Abba Kabir Yusuf) who was given the responsibility to look at areas to accommodate my people into various elective positions never for one single day do so or even call for meeting talk less of accepting my supporters to contest.
“Nobody will use money to change my conscience. I was a governor for eight years in Kano and people believed in my integrity.
“I am still living in a rented house in Abuja and never allocated a single plot of land to myself when I served as Governor in Kano and I challenged anyone who knows my plot of land to expose it.”
FLASHBACK
Ibrahim Shekarau in May defected from the APC to NNPP for reasons including alleged magnetization, and in a letter to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan regarding the defection, he wrote, “I kindly write to formally notify you of my resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC), and declaration for the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP).
“My resignation from the APC was born out of the marginalization of all major critical stakeholders, and lack of internal democracy, in the Kano State chapter of the APC, plus the total absence of the principle of inclusiveness in the affairs of the Party and its Government at all levels in the State.
“All efforts to resolve the long protracted crisis in the State, in the last two years, including the involvement of the national Headquarters of the APC, failed due to the non-cooperation of the Kano State Governor and party leadership in the State.
“Consequently, after due consultation with like-minds and millions of our supporters in the State, we decided to withdraw our membership of the APC and moved to the New Nigeria People’s Party.
“Accept, please, my fraternal goodwill and continued cooperation at all times.”
TAKEAWAY
Senator Ibrahim Shekarau had in his address toed the usual lines of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, by touting some exceptional things he did while in office as governor.
This was clear in his comment when he said, “Nobody will use money to change my conscience. I was a governor for eight years in Kano and people believed in my integrity.
“I am still living in a rented house in Abuja and never allocated a single plot of land to myself when I served as Governor in Kano and I challenged anyone who knows my plot of land to expose it.”
The former governor defected to the NNPP from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May following a leadership tussle with Abdullahi Ganduje, governor of Kano State.
In all this moving around and cross carpeting, it has never been about providing good leadership and the dividends of democracy to the populace. It has been about personal interest and sharing of political powers.
In the light of this new developments, especially with regards to the recent comments by the lawmaker, the rumours about his possible defection from the NNPP may have been confirmed.
However, his next political destination is yet unclear as at the time of reporting. Rejoining the APC may not be a possible option considering the circumstances in which he left.
That leaves open the only obvious option, which is the PDP. Therefore, as he is certainly mulling an exit from the NNPP, he may also likely be negotiating the terms of his possible entry into the PDP.
