NNPP finally states why Prof. Alkali resigned as national chairman
Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso
From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has finally opened up on the sudden exit of its erstwhile National Chairman, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali by stating that there are no rifts, conflicts and disagreements within the top hierarchy of the party’s leadership.
Professor Alkali surprised political observers when he stepped aside barely one week after leading the NNPP to defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] and win the Kano State Governorship elections apart from grabbing more than 30 national and state assembly slots.
The Deputy National Chairman, a retired general immediately followed Alkali by also resigning from his position and this set news media platforms agog with speculations about the cause of the actions of the leaders with some imputing that there were concealed hitches in the party.
Although, an Acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abba Kawu Alli, was appointed to oversee the affairs of the party, soon after the exit of the two top officials, the grapevine continued to boil over with allegations of in-fighting and irreconcilable differences which allegedly caused personality clashes between the NNPP Presidential Candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and some leaders of the party.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Dr. Major Gilbert Agbo, in an interaction with newsmen at his office, stoutly debunked allegations of personality clashes and in-fighting but instead stated that Professor Alkali only obeyed an agreement reached before the 2023 general elections to step down to pave the way for thorough reorganization of the party.
Agbo disclosed that the NNPP will soon witness massive reorganization at all levels from the headquarters to the wards to reposition the party for more robust national politics as a political party of the youths.
“Professor Alkali resigned and he gave reasons for doing so. There were certain agreements that were reached before the general elections. The party was a marriage of several groups. It was a hastily contracted arrangement for the elections. He was not sacked and nobody molested him. The former chairman felt that as a leader, he should be the first to step down for the anticipated reorganization to take place.
“People choose to be unnecessarily speculative sometimes but what you are hearing now from the mouth of the spokesman of the party is the gospel truth. If there was any disagreement, I would tell you so, but there are none. The core reasons Alkali gave was that, as the reorganization was coming, it should start with him to allow for younger people to come in and lead the party.”
Dr. Agbo said the resignations will not have any untoward ripple effects on the party or its performance in future elections stressing that the NNPP was undergoing necessary reorganization from the top to the ward levels.
He acknowledged that every election throws up unexpected conflicts and shakeups in many political parties but added however that “NNPP is the most stable, progressive and peaceful political party, among the four leading parties in the country today, compared to the wars going on in the APC, PDP and even the Labour Party. ”
Agbo denied that the Presidential Candidate has over-bearing influence on the party, stating that even though Kwankwaso came in with two major groups, he does not interfere in the running of NNPP or what goes on in the party.
He also stated that the NNPP will not join other political parties challenging the outcome of the elections because the party does not see the need to do so at the moment even as he wondered what happened to the 90 million voters registered for the elections when only about 20 million people actually voted in the 2023 general elections.