The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has condemned Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso for referring to members of the Kwankwassiya Movement who defected to the APC as betrayers, claiming that Kwankwaso is the betrayer.
Remember that Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State and national leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, lambasted certain important members of the NNPP in Kano State who recently defected to the APC, calling their conduct a betrayal of trust.
The former governor of Kano State made the statement on Friday evening at his Miller Road mansion in Kano when some caucus members of the Kwankwasiya movement from the state’s Takai Local Government Area had come by invitation.
In a statement on Monday in Lagos, the NNPP National Chairman, Dr Agbo Major, said that the former Kano governor cannot speak for the party.
“Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso has been expelled from NNPP and, together with his followers, led by Dr Ahmed Ajuji.”
According to Major, the Kwankwasiya movement is not a political party but a group admitted into the NNPP in the wake of the 2023 presidential elections where its leader became the flag bearer of the party.
Major remarked that the NNPP considered it humorous that the former Kano governor would be singling out those members of the movement who joined the APC as betrayers of the party.
“The NNPP has long severed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasia movement after the presidential elections in 2023; hence, members of the movement, as Nigerian citizens, are legally free to join any political party of their choice.
“The same Kwankwaso who betrayed the trust reposed in him by the NNPP when he tried to hijack the party is the one calling others betrayers.
“Nigerians have the constitutional right to join and belong to any political party of their choice.
“Therefore, Kwankwaso, who has long lost control of his Kwankwasiya movement, cannot stop his members from belonging to the APC and/or any other political party in Nigeria.
“Kwankwaso lost all respect from his followers when he tried to bite the fingers that gave him the presidential ticket on trust without any financial obligations.
“Kwankwaso has long been expelled from the NNPP and should either register his own party or look for another political platform to hijack.
“His members defecting to the APC simply shows that he has also lost control of the movement, just like he lost his planned hijack of the NNPP, registered in 2002, before his entrance in 2023,” he said.
“Kwankwaso’s political career ended with his expulsion from the NNPP and the consequent defection of his followers,” Major said.
