NNPP

By Muhammadu Sabiu

A coalition of civil society organisations asked Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, to step aside in favour of Musa Kwankwaso, the candidate of the Nigeria Peoples Party, to prevent needless vote splitting in the North.

Bishop Godwin Abah, the coalition’s head, said in a press conference at the NNPP secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday that Nigeria’s future was in jeopardy and that, as a result, the Kwankwaso Presidency’s political sagacity and tenacity of purpose were needed to turn the country around.

Abah noted that the organisations had carefully examined the presidential candidates of major political parties, as well as their backgrounds and democratic credentials, adding that Kwankwaso stood out among the other candidates.

He was quoted as saying, “A servant-leader with milk of human kindness, Kwankwaso transformed Kano State as a two- term governor and will bring his wealth of experience as former Minister of Defence, Ambassador, Senator, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives etc., to bear on national governance as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It was also the opinion of the rural Nigerians that the coalition interfaced with that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should set aside his presidential aspiration for a dynamic, pragmatic, energetic and resourceful Kwankwaso.

“Accordingly, the coalition calls on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate to step down for the NNPP presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to avoid unnecessary splitting of votes in the North.

“Kwankwaso will inject fresh air in governance, restore hope to a bewildered nation that has seen more carnage than dividends of democracy and build a new Nigeria we all desire.

“Atiku has done his best for the nation, we appreciate his contribution as Vice President of Nigeria. He remains a statesman.

There are now about three days left until the presidential election, which involves four major contenders, including Bola Tinubu (APC), Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (NNPP), and Peter Obi (LP).

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr AB Baffa , said Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is the most prepared and qualified candidate for the Nigeria’s presidency.

Kwankwaso is the presidential flagbearer of the NNPP.

Dr AB Baffa, who is also the NNPP’s candidate for Kano North Senatorial District in the forthcoming general election, disclosed this in an open letter addressed to Kwankwasiyya members and NNPP supporters on Monday.

According to Dr Baffa, Kwankwaso’s political trajectory and experience as a former parliamentarian, minister, diplomat and governor stood him out amongst the contenders for the presidency.

He further explained that Kwankwaso’s educational qualifications to the level of PhD are verifiable and undisputed.

The letter reads in part :
“Dare I remind you that our Party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, is the only party that fielded the most competent and the most experienced patriot with over four decades of hands-on experience in governance and
Leadership at the civil service, the executive, the legislature, the security, as well as the diplomatic levels, as its Presidential Candidate.”

“Dare I remind you that our Party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Presidential candidate has over 17 years of experience in the civil service, was the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, was a member
of the Constitution Conference, is a Class 1999 Governor, was a Minister of Defence, was a Special Envoy to Darfur and Somalia, was a member of the Board of Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is a Class 2011 Governor, and he was a Senator of the Federal Republic.”

“Dare I remind you that our Party, the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has fielded the most properly educated Presidential Candidate in the history of our democracy with traceable and verifiable educational qualifications from Primary School, to Boarding Senior Primary School, to Crafts School, to Technical College (where he obtained his City & Guild certificate), to Polytechnics (where he obtained his National Diploma and Higher National Diploma), and up to Universitiesin the UK and India (where he obtained his Masters and PhD in Water Resources Engineering respectively).”

By Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi, PhD

Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s NNPP has seemingly become the nightmare of many politicians in the Northern and Southern parts of Nigeria. This is simply because many Nigerians are not truly yearning for a better country.

Some Southern press, especially those who used to set the agenda for the country years ago, downplay Kwankwaso’s candidature and deliberately omit, ignore and replace Kwankwaso’s more prominent and more formidable party with someone who is not known beyond Twitter in their coverage.

The Southern press may be scared of Kwankwaso due to several reasons. These could be myopia, tribalism, regionalism, and religious mischief. Yes! I agree that Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Asiwaju Bola Tinunbu of the APC may be considered as forefront candidates in some contexts. Thus, they may be regarded to be above Kwankwaso in terms of age, venturing into national politics, and political spread but nothing more.

Kwankwaso is naturally ahead of them in terms of integrity, health, foresight, political sagacity and shrewdness, and above all, the love and commitment towards the development of Nigeria. Moreover, his academic credentials are higher than all those who are contesting.

Furthermore, the Southern press thought they could do as they wished without being noticed. So, they cunningly choose to propagate one Yoruba (Tinubu), one Hausa (Atiku) and Peter Obi (Igbo). The latter cannot even publicly and unambiguously condemn the IPOB secessionists’ evil atrocities. Does he even believe in one indivisible Nigeria himself?

The Southern press is not alone in this mischief and tribalism. Some Northern writers who are, to some extent, their puppies and puppets downgrade Kwankwaso and fail to point out a single reason. They even tag him as a local champion. What is bad in being a local champion? All champions should be local, otherwise they don’t have any base.

If you check newspapers, both print and online, such as Vanguard, the Guardian, Punch, Premium Times and the likes, they are at the forefront of this amateur journalism. How can someone be so glaringly subjective in their journalism to the extent that even a blind can see? What kind of a country is this? Are they not aware of Kwankwaso’s credentials and positive antecedents? Are they unaware of how Kwankwaso transformed and developed Kano rapidly? How on earth can you compare Kwankwaso to all those contesting if someone is sensible and objective in his assessment? Most of them are either tribalistic or looking for big brown envelops filled with foreign currency.

These Southern press are not helping matters and are not objective. They are so divisive and tribalistic. To borrow from Orubebe’s outrage when he intended to save the nation from the ongoing catastrophe this Buhari-led government brought, while referring to Jega, he said: You are tribalistic. You are myopic, and we can’t take it!

Finally, the Southern media has achieved much in their agenda-setting warfare. Even some international media outlets borrow a leaf from them and mention Atiku, Tinubu and the other Igbo guy and, conspicuously, leave out Kwankwaso.

However, suppose we are to be sincerely and patriotically fair, let us put all the leading contenders on a scale of preference which is based on capacity and capability and see what happens. In that case, Kwankwaso is the best, followed by the Igbo man, and then Atiku while Tinunbu comes last. At least if they are to be objective, we have four leading contenders and not three, as they are falsely portraying.

Our votes are for Kwankwaso. And he will surely get more than many corrupt contenders and will win the presidential elections.

Muhammad Sulaiman Abdullahi, PhD, wrote from Kano. He can be reached via muhammadunfagge@yahoo.com. @muhammadunfagge.

By Muhammadu Sabiu

Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso, the presidential candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party, labelled the proponents of his rumoured merger with another party as failed politicians on Thursday.

Just moments after addressing NNPP members at the party office in the state capital, Kwankwaso made this statement while responding to reporters in Abeokuta.

Kwakwanso was quoted saying, “That’s absolute nonsense. You see we believe that we are not above the three or four parties in this country, but by 2023, next year, by the grace of God, the NNPP will win the election at national and all other levels.

“So, these are people who are failed politicians who have nothing to tell Nigerians other than to spread unnecessary rumour of a merger.

“Merger is already gone. We have our candidates. In all the parties, everybody is campaigning. So, disregard that nonsense.”

By Aisar Salihu Musa

Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso clearly stated that, if elected as the president of Nigeria in the forthcoming 2023 presidential elections, the Local Government funding (LG Funds) will come directly from the Federal Government’s treasury without passing through the hands of the state governors. However, some people are now making noise about it, maintaining that Kwankwaso was the one in Kano who initiated that LG funds must pass through his hand before going to LG chairmen.

My worry now is; what is wrong in having a second thought? What’s wrong? We do have second thoughts on many things but that’s not a problem. To some, the problem is for Kwankwaso to have it. This your obsession or rather hatred with anything Kwankwaso will cause you serious problem. Adjust, please.

Politician decamp with you from one party to another, that’s not a problem. They come with their trial and error policy, it is not a problem. Clerics change fatwas, it is not a problem. You run from one girl to another, it is not an issue. The problem is for Kwankwaso to change a stand. Guys, what’s your problem? You should know that, Kwankwaso is still the best among all the contenders by whichever form of parameter you choose to judge and assess. He is just the best of all of them in terms of everything.

In the beginning, Kwankwaso saw how LG administrators were recklessly embezzling LG funds without any meaningful projects that will better the lives of their people. In order to solve that problem, he said LG funds will remain in the account of the state government, not his personal account. Any LG administrator with a project should write to the state government and request funding for its execution. I think at that time it was a good decision from him and it was purely out of good intention. Now that things have changed and he thinks giving them their money directly is better than entrusting it in the hands of the state governments, I think is something we should commend him about.

By Aisar Fagge

The gubernatorial candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Eng. Abba Kabir Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, said we never said we would abolish Kano’s new emirates.

Yusuf made this statement Tuesday during a continuation of interactive session series organised by a coalition of 21 Kano CSOs and NGOs aiming to promote peace and development of Kano State.

He said, “It is APC who are making this campaign of calumny. They went to Gaya Emirate, gathered their elders, feeding them with this blatant lie that Abba would abolish their emirate if elected. Don’t forget in our midst; we have politicians and followers from all these new emirates. They never see any evil intention in us. Had they seen anything like that, they would have abandoned us because they love their localities.

“What these people don’t understand is that Kano people are wise and educated. If you go for a campaign, use your projects and programmes. Stop spreading lies about us and our administration. They made another false accusation about five-kilometre roads that we stole money! [Who stole Kano’s money?] I have been challenging Ganduje for one-on-one debate on five-kilometre roads, but he refused”, he boasted.

Responding to a question about whether, if elected, he would continue with the APC’s uncompleted projects. Yusuf said, “We have been going around supervising their projects and seeing the ones that were properly planned and how they will be completed. Any meaningful project that has a direct impact on the life of the citizenry will be completed. But congested places that are making life difficult for people will be decongested.”

The convener, Dr Aminu Magashi Garba, thanked Eng. Abba Kabir Yusuf, his team, members of the press and all those who made the event successful.

By Muhammadu Sabi’u

One of the strongest opposition parties in Kano State, the New Nigerian People Party, has reacted to the alleged involvement in the looting of a huge amount of money by some three Nigerian governors.
 
Recall that the news alleging that three currently serving state governors are being watched for attempts to launder money by paying employees’ salaries under the table resurfaced a few days ago.
 
Reacting to the allegation, a Deputy Public Relations Officer of the NNPP in Kano State, Hon. Musa Nuhu Yankaba, hints that one of the governors in question is Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State.
 
In an interview with Premier Radio Kano, he said, “If he [Governor Ganduje] refuses to come out and clear himself, we, as natives of Kano State and members of an opposition party, will not accept that, and we will expose him, so as to tell the people of Kano all that is going on and for proper action to be taken.”
 
Despite all these, the anti-graft agency, the EFCC, did not reveal the identities of the three governors involved in the scandals.
 
However, the chairman of the EFCC noted in an interview that two of them were from the North, and the third was from the South of the nation.
 
He added that information at the agency’s disposal showed that the three governors had come up with strategies to inject the money into the system by paying their state employees’ wages on a table-payment basis.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The All Progressive Congress (APC) gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial candidates for Kano state lack the integrity to run for any public office, says the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

The party argued that the duo should be prosecuted by now for disrupting the 2019 general election.

This was disclosed in a statement signed and issued Friday by the Spokesperson to the party, Sunusi Bature Dawakin Tofa.

Dawakin Tofa lambasted the ruling party for giving tickets to Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna and Murtala Sule Garo for their “uncivilized behaviour.”

The Daily Reality recalled that, in a viral video, Gawuna and Garo were seen under police custody after allegedly tearing election results that led the electoral body to declare the 2019 governorship election inconclusive in the state.

The statement said, “It is morally reprehensible for the party to give tickets to those whose videos depict them disrupting elections that have globally smeared the image of Kano.

“It is on record and cannot be disputed that on February 14, 2019, the state police command nabbed two individuals after discovering 14 sacks containing ballots that had been thumb-printed in favour of the APC.

“For the APC to accuse us or any other party of rigging is silly and a public show of lack of shame,” the statement added.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Civil Society organizations, under the Auspices Alliance for Good Governance, demanded the immediate prosecution of the APC Chairman, Aminu Ali Shana.

The APC chairman of Yautan Arewa, Gabasawa LGA, was arrested on Friday by the police in possession of over three hundred permanent voter’s cards (PVC) in Kano.

A statement issued and signed by Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Rogo, the Kano Publicity Secretary of the party, demanded legal action against the chairman.

It was gathered that the police has already transferred the suspect to the department of criminal investigation (CID) of Kano state command in Bompai for further investigation.

The NNPP said it will pursue this case to a logical conclusion in the interest of protecting democratic principles.

The statement says, “The offence is contrary to sections 21 and 22 1 (a), (b) and (c) of the electoral act 2022 as amended.”

It also stated that the NNPP chairman of Kano State, Hon. Umar Haruna Doguwa had directed the party’s legal team to file a petition against the suspect and his core sponsors.

“I directed our legal advisor to also write to the electoral umpire (INEC) to as a matter of responsibility pursue necessary action on the matter” Doguwa confirmed in the statement.

He said the issue of PVC hoarding subsections source of major concern in Kano ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“We are naturally vindicated by this arrest, we keep our fingers crossed as we await the next steps to be taken by both the Independent National Electoral Commission and Nigeria Police,” he added.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Former Kano State governor, Senator Kabiru Gaya, said the All Progressive Congress (APC) was not worried by the growing strength of the New Nigerian People Party (NNPP).

The senator said NNPP would only strike terror into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the party would split the votes that belong to the PDP. 

He stated that the APC would sweep the votes in all the electoral positions, predicting that the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) would come second while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would come third.

Gaya disclosed this to journalists in Kano when he was debunking the rumour going around that the vice president, Yemi Osibanjo, was sidelined in the formation of the presidential campaign team of APC. 

He said the information was misleading and fake and that Osinbajo remained committed to the presidential ambition of the APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He said, “I am a member of the Tinubu campaign team, so the issue of sidelining anyone does not arise. Even the president has said he wants Osinbajo to be with him in running the affairs of the country to ensure a seamless handover.

“There is nothing like Osinbajo is sidelined because, after the primaries, we were in Osinbajo’s house when Tinubu came and said he needed our support. We had over two hours’ discussion. They are working together. Politics should not divide us,” he stated.