Newscenter Media News The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) has denied claims by immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, that the internal crisis rocking the party including the expulsion of its 2023 presidential candidate, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and the suspension of Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf by a faction of the party is masterminded by the President Bola Tinubu-led government and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
El-Rufai who announced his defection from the APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Monday, had accused Tinubu’s government of orchestrating and funding ongoing crises in opposition parties including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the NNPP.
While speaking at the headquarters of his new party on Tuesday, the former FCT Minister had said:
“The crisis that is facing the Labour Party is contrived and funded by the government of the day. Everyone knows it.
“The same thing is happening in the PDP. Even in the NNPP. There are people that have been resourced to go and cause problems in NNPP,” El-Rufai alleged.
He further accused the ruling party of using legal battles as a tool to destabilise opposition leadership.
“Jumping from one court to another is all designed to distract the party leadership from focusing on their own functions,” he said.
The former Kaduna governor also said the NNPP crisis where a faction of the party expelled Kwankwaso and Yusuf were sponsored by the present administration.
“The last thing I read about 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 the only governor they have,” he queried.
But while denying the allegations, the NNPP’s National Secretary, Olaposi Oginni, dismissed El-Rufai’s insinuations, describing the claims as unfounded, while accusing him of making baseless remarks.
In a statement on Wednesday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Oginni said El-Rufai’s remarks were the cries of a drowning man who wants to take others along with him. The NNPP also asked El-Rufai to retract his statement within 48 hours or face legal action for defamation against the party leadership.
“The ranting of the former Governor of Kaduna State Nasir El-Rufai on the expulsion of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the suspension of Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State from NNPP is a cry of a drowning man,’” the statement said.
“It is unfortunate that El-Rufai, who has just decamped from the APC to SDP, was seen making unfounded allegations against the leadership of NNPP, alleging sponsorship of the expulsion of Kwankwaso and the suspension of Governor Yusuf by the federal government.
“Was it the federal government that asked Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to go to Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam in February 2022, to prostrate and beg for NNPP’s platform in the company of Buba Galadima, Senator Hunkuyi, and others to contest as the presidential candidate in 2023?
“Was it the federal government that asked Kwankwaso and his now expelled members of the National Working Committee to embezzle all the money received from the sales of nomination forms and donations for the party for the 2023 Election?
“Was it the federal government that was responsible for the EFCC petition against Kwankwaso over an alleged N2.5 billion fraud or the illegal convention that led to changes in the NNPP logo and colours.
“The Federal Government had no role in the internal workings of our party. Kwankwaso and his cohorts are responsible for the crisis.”
Oginni also demanded a retraction and an apology from El-Rufai and threatened that the party would take legal action against him 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 stated.
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