President Bola Tinubu and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, have been warned to be watchful and careful in their dealings with the flag bearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso.
It has been reported that the warning was issued by the State Chairmen’s Forum of the NNPP.
According to the chairmen, Kwankwaso’s recent meetings with bigwigs in Nigeria’s politics were part of his plan to remain relevant after losing grip of NNPP’s structure across the country.
The NNPP chairmen described the recent meeting between Kwankwaso and Atiku as distasteful and disgraceful while admonishing President Tinubu and Atiku to boycott any dealings with kwankwaso.
The Ogun NNPP Chairman and Leader of the Forum, Olaposi Oginni, in a statement at the weekend, said the Department of State Services (DSS) should keep an eye on Kwankwaso’s political desperation, which may constitute a security risk.
Oginni expressed displeasure at how Kwankwaso had allegedly betrayed the founder of the party, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, by breaking the Memorandum of Understanding signed before the 2023 presidential election.
The NNPP chairmen noted that “Dr Aniebonam gave him the platform without taking a dime to enable him contest the 2023 presidential election. It is saddening that Kwankwaso is shamelessly trying all possible means to hijack the party from the original owner.
“In the same vein, Kwankwaso, without recourse to the states chairmen and the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), unilaterally started and concluded negotiation with Tinubu on the recent presidential election. This anti-party activity was confirmed by Kwankwaso’s spokesperson, Ladipo Johnson when he appeared on Channels Television last week to respond to various allegations by Oginni.”
Warning the PDP flag bearer, the NNPP chairmen said, “Atiku and PDP’s preemptive measures on likely presidential election rerun shall be counter-productive with the likes of Kwankwaso, who can never be trusted.
“What else can a Kwankwaso, who ensured that Atiku did not emerge as the sole candidate from the North, ready to offer after the colossal damages of Atiku’s and PDP’s chance of winning the presidential election?”