… condemns ex- Gov. Kwankwanso’s trust betrayal
Founder of the Nigeria New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Doctor Boniface Aniebonam, has assured that the party would provide Nigeria with a good leader.
He however, condemned the move by the former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and his movement (Kwankwansia) to hijack the party structure as a betrayal of trust, adding that it is laughable for him to say that he has suspended the founder of the party.
Recall the NNPP has been rocked by crises since late last year when the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) expelled Kwankwaso and others for alleged anti-party activities and other acts of misconduct.
Aniebonam who was addressing a press conference on Friday in Lagos, said he registered NNPP in 2002 and funded it for 22 years, before Kwankwanso sent a delegate to him in his home town to seek presidential candidature in the 2022 national elections.
His words: “Buba Galadima led the delegation, including Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi and Professor Sam Angai to my country home in Anambra to plead for us to accept Kwankwaso in the NNPP.
“After the talks, I placed a call to Kwankwaso and after asking him questions about his intentions for Nigeria, I offered him the platform of NNPP as its sole candidate.
“I funded the party for 22 years, not for money; the party belongs to God. So, I told Kwankwanso to go and provide leadership for Nigerians and I provided N2 million on the spot in Abuja.”
Aniebonam who is also the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight forwarders (NAGAFF) noted that Kwankwanso has added value to the NNPP lifting it to the third position in the hierarchy of national parties in Nigeria but wondered who was giving him the deceitful advice of hijacking the party.
“Today NNPP is now factional, though for me there is no division because for me Kwankwanso and his group have been expelled and if you go to Kwanmkwanso he will tell you that we (the founder and his group) have been expelled.
“Who is giving Kwankwanso this kind of advice? Before you start a party you must register for it. I registered for this party in 2002. I’m the Founder of NAGAFF and the President of NAGAFF certified this party, so NNPP is NAGAFF’s,” he said further.
According to Aniebonam, his saving grace was that the Party constitution as reviewed by Kwankwanso and other top members of the party added a clause of the founder remaining a life member of the board.
He therefore queried how a life member can be suspended, also disclosing that “the court ruling yesterday stated that the NNPP case is an internal matter, meaning that the constitution of the party will be followed. So we have suspended them, we have suspended that.
“I believe that Kwankwaso was not aware of the internal crisis in the party until he came out openly on live television, displaying a new logo and flag for the NNPP and mutilating its constitution.
“The party’s constitution says the founder is a life member of the board and even when I’m alive, my brother and good friend, Kwankwaso, for whatever reasons, is destroying the party I built from 2002 to 2022 when he joined us to contest the 2023 presidency.
“I funded the party for 22 years, taking me over a billion naira. I did it and said it belongs to God and now Kwankwaso wants to hijack it even when he is not a member of the board of trustees or the leader of the party.
“It is disturbing and if I continue to keep quiet, it will not be in the interest of the soul of the party as the founder and at some point, its board chairman.
“It’s becoming a shame to the northern part of the country and becoming a deceit. I am now in the arena and I want to see Kwankwanso in the arena.”
Though Kwankwaso and others were expelled from the party for anti-party activities the NNPP Founder stated that as a life member of the board with inherent powers, he would grant him pardon if he purged himself of what he was doing.
He reiterated that the magistrate court ruling implies that the imbroglio can only be settled using the constitution of the party, but that his team was ready to pursue the interpretation of the constitution up to the Supreme Court. “I’m not a professional politician but this party will provide Nigeria with a good leader,” Aniebonam assured.