CHRONICLING THE IMPASSE IN NNPP-How A Man’s Benevolence Became A Proposed Ticket To Jail In Kano

 

In February 2022, we had a meeting in the country home of Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Anieboonam at Umuawulu, Awka south local government area of Anambra State At the all night meeting on one side (the original NNPP) was Dr Aniebonam, Dr Agbo Major, Dipo Olayoku while on the other side (those seeking help to use the party platform for 2023) was the vulgar and noisy Buba Galadima, Prof Bem Angwe, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi and a few others. The mission was to ask for consideration to be allowed into NNPP (a party rightly formed and owned by NAGAFF) for the 2023 general election after having failed in their mission for same purpose to ACCORD, NRM, PRP and others. The failure was because they went in there with their mischief and grab-it-all mentality.

The Umuawulu meeting which lasted till about 2am of the following morning, considered and approved a framework for a union which was to last up to the election and to be reviewed after the election. A tentative, gentleman MOU entered into was to allow a marriage and an understanding between the original NNPP, NAGAFF, KWANKWASSIYA and TNM. Shortly after the understanding was consummated, the evil hands began to show up. Events quickly unfolded and key actors especially within the fold of TNM made up of notable Nigerians began to exit. Investigation showed that certain persons felt they were lords over others and violently dictated who would be where.

In March 2022, in the spirit of the MOU, we had a national convention at the Gwarimpa Polo Ground. The event which midwife a new National Working Committee saw the relegation of several people who built the NNPP for twenty one years to lower positions from where they hitherto occupied. Those affected took their new lower roles in good faith for the development of the party but “lo and behold” it was done out of malice, witch hunting and for fear of the heavy experience and intimidating profile of some old officers of the party who held sway before they came.

Behold, we had new young men and women who dictated what happened in the party, insulted whoever came their way to make useful suggestions. The meeting hall of the NWC was abandoned and critical party decisions were taken in the seating room of the new party’s “supreme commander”. He determined suomoto who to fire and who not to, who to occupy positions and who must not and above all who would be party’s candidates for elective positions etc.

As spokesman of the party during the build up to the 2023 election, the day I told the world in response to a question raised by a journalist during a press conference that there were over fifteen aspirants jostling for the party’s presidential ticket for the 2023 general election was the day I became their arch, no longer an ordinary enemy. Unknown to me, the inner caucus had taken a decision to print only one form for one lord somewhere and then shut out all others. For me, this was alien to our party which hitherto belonged to everyone and presented a level playing field for all to jostle for tickets.

As Spokesman of the party, I only used my head to address policy and campaign issues on media because as their sworn enemy I was never part of any meeting to address any serious campaign agenda nor was I part of the campaign outings except for a few places such as Bauchi and Ibadan where the entire NWC as a team went to. NNPP had a spokesman who did not go out with its presidential candidate for campaign. What a campaign.

During uploading of their hand-picked (no primaries) candidates, while other political parties located their situation rooms at their party headquarters, that of NNPP was taken to someone’s private house in Abuja and all sorts of evil acts were perpetrated. For you to be uploaded as candidate, they must like your face in addition to other inducements otherwise you are on your own. The party’s National Chairman then Prof Rufai Ahmed Alkali, an astute and core party administrator who had cut his teeth from PDP while in power watched helplessly as decision making was taken away from his table and carried out in someone’s house in Maitama. He managed to go through the election and threw in the towel on the 30th of March 2023 insisting he did not want to stand on the way of anyone whose agenda was to annex an empire that he did not own.

A disciplinary committee set up to consider post election petitions (engineered by them) but targeted at the original members of the party with an aim to weed them out and guarantee a total take over was instituted. Instead of the normal procedure of arbitration where the complainer and the defender are brought together to join issues, they adopted a bizarre procedure of listening to the complainer on a different day and the defendant on a separate day too. At the end of the day, the leadership of eleven core original NNPP states were dissolved without fair hearing.

It was when the affected leaders cried to the party’s Founder in Lagos demanding for justice that the decision to send Dr Aniebonam, Dr Agbo, Chief Oginni and others to jail using a State High Court in Kano was taken. The matter was done by their charge-and-bail National Legal Adviser who manipulated the legal system and at a point deceived the court to raise Forms 48 and 49 to commit someone who had been so benevolent to them and rescued them from political oblivion to prison in Kano. They forgot that God sees through the heart of man. What a wicked world and a wicked people bent on creating bad name for politicians?.

While it is not really a bad idea to see them on their own withdraw the case today, it is imperative to remind the shameless Buba Galadima and all those who hatched the failed evil plot against an innocent man who meant no harm and freely related with them that godly peace has and would elude them forever. After one full year dragging the name of an innocent and peaceful old man through the mud, where will they ever find peace again?. They should ask God to forgive them but note that Nigerians now know them better.

Let it on record that Senator Rabiu Musa KWANKWASO and Elder Buba Galadima have offended God , society and humanity by their evil acts . I shall therefore advise them to go to lagos and ask for forgiveness from the founder of our great party

I know him well he will forgive but he will not forget. What is certain is that he will not work with Kwankwaso and Buba Galadima again whom he considers as evil men in politics

For us, we are more united and determined to move forward.

Dr Agbo Major, National Chairman NNPP writes from Abuja.