NNPP crisis: Ajuji Ahmed-led leadership disowns election of new NWC

Ajuji Ahmed, the national chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), says a recent convention that produced a new national working committee (NWC) for the party is “illegal”.

At a convention held at the Rock View Hotel in Apapa, Lagos, on Wednesday, Agbo Major was elected as the national chairman of the party.

At the convention, Oginni Olaposi was elected as the national secretary, while Felix Chukwurah was voted to the position of deputy national chairman for the south.

Adetoyese Omokanye became the national treasurer, Babayo Muhammed was the deputy national chairman for the north, and Abdulrasaq Abdulsallam was elected national publicity secretary.

However, prominent party figures, including Abba Yusuf, governor of Kano state, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, ex-presidential candidate of the NNPP, were absent at the convention.

Speaking at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday, Ahmed said the NNPP remains under his leadership.

He accused the organisers of the Lagos convention of violating court orders and attempting to mislead the public with alleged false claims of legitimacy.

“We, as a political party, would have wanted to ignore recent developments concerning this party, except for the open assault on the integrity of the party and the psyche of Nigerians by some sponsored elements posing as members and leaders of the party,” Ahmed said.

“Let me at this juncture inform you, and through you inform the world that there is only one NNPP under the leadership of my humble self as its national chairman, and this NWC, with this building as the national headquarters of the party known to law and the regulating agency for political parties in Nigeria—the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

Ahmed claimed that those parading themselves as the new NWC executives are former party members expelled for anti-party activities.

He said they have been persistently challenging NNPP’s leadership in courts across the country, including Abuja, Kano, Katsina, and Port Harcourt.

He cited an April 2024 judgment in an Abuja high court that barred them from parading themselves as party members or leaders.

He further accused external political forces of sponsoring the group in a bid to weaken the opposition ahead of the 2027 elections.

“Against the background of all these, it is clearly against the law, and common decency, for any group under the guise of any identity different from what I have enumerated above to refer to itself as NNPP,” he said.

“For this reason, therefore, the NNPP did not have any national convention in recent times, and so we did not inaugurate any new national working committee (NWC).

“The current NNPP NWC was constituted in the year 2022 under the supervision of INEC as stipulated in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act, 2022.

“They (the group) were duly sanctioned, but instead of exploring the internal mechanisms put in place by the party to address their grievances, they decided to release themselves as willing tools to outsiders in order to distract the attention of the party.

“This same hired and sponsored emergency collection of characters gathered themselves in Lagos three days ago in the name of NNPP to hold a ludicrous charade of tipsy comedians when a court of competent jurisdiction in Abuja gave a clear and unmistakable injunction against them not to hold that meeting.

“They defied the court ruling and went ahead to hold a beer parlour meeting in a hotel lobby, which they now called a national convention.

“For the purpose of clarity, on the 16th of January 2025, the high court of FCT gave an order restraining them and their privies, proxies, and whoever from carrying out any official duty or activity for or on behalf of NNPP.

“The said orders were served on them; they have briefed their lawyers; they have appeared before the courts and filed their processes.

“Yet with brazen disregard for the orders of the court, the same group has gone ahead to hold this unlawful meeting and has purported to have elected members of a kangaroo national working committee.

“We are in court today, 7th February 2025, and INEC has filed their process denying knowledge and existence of the so-called convention in Apapa and the purported election.”

He urged party members to ignore the group’s claims and remain focused on strengthening the NNPP ahead of the 2027 elections.

Ahmed added that the party is committed to providing a robust opposition and resisting any attempt to undermine democracy in Nigeria.