The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has disclosed the cause of the defection of Prof. Rufa’i Alkali, the party’s former national chairman, and other party members to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Alkali, Prof. Bem Angwe, Senator Othman Hunkuyi, and several other party members left the party “due to high-handedness and insatiable desire to take over a platform benevolently donated by Dr. Boniface Aniebonam and its mother organization – NAGAFF for use in the 2023 general election,” according to a statement released by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, on Wednesday.
The APC announced on its official X feed that its national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, welcomed 26 NNPP chieftains, including Alkali and three contenders for governorship, into the party in Abuja on Wednesday.
In the statement, Abdulrasaq noted that the press had been regularly informed of Angwe and Hunkuyi’s participation as signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding between Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the NNPP, which led to the merging of the Kwankwassiyya and TNM parties.
The statement also noted that Alkali emerged as national chairman at the convention that cemented the union on March 30, 2022, but left the party and his position on March 30, 2023, due to alleged “high-handedness and irreconcilable differences with Kwankwaso on issues of undemocratic tendencies and lately the desire to take over fraudulently a platform that he was benevolently given by a gentle old man to actualise his ambition of running for the presidency of Nigeria”.
He clarified that attempts had apparently been made to sell off Angwe’s governorship ticket in Benue State, which he had battled so hard to earn, to the highest bidder. Angwe was a signatory to the MOU, but he withdrew his signature long ago, before the pact itself expired after the 2023 election.
Despite the enormous love he receives from the wonderful people of Benue State, the statement claimed that he subsequently became cold-hearted, even though it would have an impact on his success in the 2023 election.
As to the statement, Hunkuyi, who was also a signatory to the MOU but withdrew long ago, has been at odds with Kwankwaso even during his tenure as National Organising Secretary within the party’s administrative structure.
According to the statement, Hunkuyi voiced complaints about several aspects of his service to the party, including imposition, high-handedness, and a lack of listening to others.
“The irreconcilable differences extended to the period after emerging as the governorship candidate of NNPP in Kaduna State.
“While the campaign lasted, there was no noticeable contact or synergy with the governorship candidate due to the rift which was very obvious,” the statement said, adding that Hunkuyi had communicated his withdrawal to the founder of the party, Aniebonam, to whom he also apologised for all the embarrassment faced despite his benevolence during the period they came into the party.
According to Abdulrasaq, the defection of the 26 NNPP chieftains hit the party like a thunderstorm at a time when the new leadership of Dr Agbo Major has set up a special committee to interact with them.