A faction of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has announced the plan to investigate the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and some other chieftains over alleged misappropriation of funds.
OsunDailyNG reports that the faction, under the leadership of Major Agbo, is accusing Kwankwaso and some of his loyalists of misappropriating over N1 billion generated from the sale of nomination forms.
In a statement issued through the NNPP factional National Publicity Secretary, Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, after a meeting at the Abuja National Secretariat on Sunday, the faction also accused a chieftain of the NNPP, Buba Galadima, of favouring and imposing certain party candidates ahead of other aspirants.
The statement reads: “NNPP will conduct a thorough probe into the mismanagement of well over one billion naira raised from the sale of forms to aspirants from March 2022 to date. The meeting resolved to invite relevant security agencies to properly examine the accounts of the party with a view to demanding explanations from the party’s presidential candidate, the party’s chairman who left in March 2023, the sacked acting chairman, and the National Secretary.
“This is to restore the confidence of party members and candidates who came forward with their hard-earned money to purchase forms. The party also queried the rationale for the location of the Situation Room in the presidential candidate’s personal residence.
“It noted that the illegal location created room for massive corruption and manipulation, leading to the imposition of candidates by Buba Galadima and his co-travellers and resolved to set up a committee to launch a probe into it. It therefore called for written complaints from aggrieved candidates who were shortchanged after making payments for forms into the party’s account.”
The faction also noted that it has withdrawn from the earlier Memorandum of Understanding it signed with the Kwankwasiya Movement and The National Movement, insisting that the principles of the two groups are targeted at massaging the ego of its sole owner and not in line with the party’s policies of inclusivity.
Abdulrazaq also promised to probe why the party favoured Kwankwaso and allegedly denied other aspirants running for the same ticket.
He said: “The party also resolved to query the rationale behind the denial of other presidential aspirants the right to purchase forms and participate in the primary election that illegally produced Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso insisting that it was against the spirit of fairness and equity, which our great party preaches.
“The party called on its numerous members and supporters to remain calm in the face of this brazen assault of the Kwankwasiya movement whose members were erroneously made to believe the party is sold to them and called on all aggrieved and displaced members who left for whatever reason to return home. The party resolved to overhaul its structures across all levels nationwide in the coming days and weeks.”
They Are No Longer Party Members
Reacting, however, to the alleged misappropriation of funds, the National Auditor of the NNPP, Ladipo Johnson, said the people pointing fingers at Kwankwaso have been expelled from the party.
He absolved Kwankwaso of any wrongdoing, saying all the allegations levelled against him were frivolous and the people peddling the lies are no longer members of the party.
Johnson also wondered why the allegations were not raised until the factional leaders were expelled from the party.
He said: “Does Kwankwaso sell forms? He is neither an official of the party nor an accounting officer. Why are you taking them seriously? It should be obvious to the whole world what these people are trying to do. They have been expelled.
“These are ex-members and renegades who are no longer in the party. I think the sooner Nigerians move to more serious issues relating to the economy and to the Niger crisis, the best for us. Since people like Agbo have formed their own NWC, they should sell nomination forms and teach the world how to manage N1b. I wonder how many candidates NNPP has that we sold N1b worth of forms.
“Why have they not raised this allegation before, during, and immediately after the election? Why are they just saying these things after their expulsion from the party?”.
