The leadership crisis bedevilling the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has taken a new twist as the new leadership of the party under Dr Agbo Gilbert Major on Sunday resolved to conduct a probe into the mismanagement of over N1 billion raised from the sale of forms to aspirants during the 2023 general elections.
The new leadership also called for written complaints from aggrieved candidates who were shortchanged after making payments for forms into the party’s account while disclosing that it has resolved to overhaul its structures across all levels nationwide in the coming days and weeks.
This resolution was contained in a statement issued by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, following a maiden meeting at the Abuja National Secretariat on Sunday and made available to report.
The party also questioned the rationale for the location of the Situation Room to the presidential candidate’s personal residence, resolving to set up a committee to launch a probe into it.
The statement alleged that the location created room for massive corruption and manipulation, leading to the imposition of candidates.
Abdulrasaq added that the party also confirmed its withdrawal from the Memorandum Of Understanding, MoU, signed by it with the Kwankwasiya Movement and The National Movement, TNM, insisting that the principles of those two groups did not aline with the party’s policies of openness and inclusivity.
According to Abdulrasaq, the party resolved to query the rationale behind the denial of other presidential aspirants the right to purchase forms and participate in the primary election that it said illegally produced Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, insisting that it was against the spirit of fairness and equity the party preaches.
He further called on the party’s numerous members and supporters to remain calm in the face of what it described as “brazen assault of the Kwankwasiya movement” whose members were erroneously made to believe the party was sold to them.
“The new leadership of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) under Dr Agbo Gilbert Major today had its maiden meeting at the Abuja National Secretariat and after a review of the situation resulting from the gross mismanagement of the party in the past one year came out with the following resolutions:
“To conduct a thorough probe into the mismanagement of well over one billion naira (N1b) raised from the sale of forms to aspirants between March 2022 and today. 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 confidence of party members/candidates who came forward with their hard earned money to purchase forms,” part of the statement read
