Things Fall Apart as Kwankwaso, Yusuf Fight Dirty for Control of NNPP

…Kwankwasiya Movement, Kano Gov’s Supporters Lock Horns in Kano for Soul of Party

By Abu Adamu
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) appears to be sliding deeper into an existential crisis as sharp divisions emerge between its founding leader and 2023 presidential candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, over who truly controls the soul, structure and future of the party.

What began as muted disagreements has now exploded into open confrontation, with senior party figures questioning Kwankwaso’s continued claim to leadership and counter-moves by the former Kano governor aimed at asserting dominance over loyalists, particularly in Kano State, the party’s only stronghold.

On one side of the widening rift is Governor Yusuf, constitutionally the highest-ranking elected official of the NNPP as its only sitting governor. On the other is Kwankwaso, the political godfather whose Kwankwasiyya Movement was central to the party’s electoral success in Kano in 2023.

The fault lines were further exposed yesterday when the National Vice Chairman of the NNPP (Northwest), Alhaji Sani Danmasani, declared unequivocally that Governor Yusuf, not Kwankwaso, is the national leader of the party.

In a strongly worded statement, Danmasani insisted that by the provisions of the NNPP constitution, Yusuf automatically assumes leadership of the party as its sole governor. He stressed that Kwankwaso’s role as the party’s presidential candidate ended with the 2023 general election and that the Memorandum of Association between the NNPP and the Kwankwasiyya Movement had since expired.

“It is not even news that some key members of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, including Kwankwaso, were later expelled from the NNPP for anti-party activities,” Danmasani said, accusing the media of misleading the public by continuing to refer to Kwankwaso as the party’s leader.

According to him, such misrepresentation has emboldened Kwankwaso to engage in talks with other political parties under the false banner of the NNPP ahead of the 2027 elections.

“We reiterate that negotiations for 2027 alliances with Kwankwaso and the Kwankwasiyya Movement may be legitimate in their own right, but they become null and void once they are done purportedly on the NNPP platform,” he warned.

Danmasani emphasised that only the founder of the party, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, a life member of the Board of Trustees, and the National Executive Committee led by Dr Agbo Gilbert have the authority to negotiate on behalf of the NNPP.

He urged Kwankwaso and his followers to either formally join another political party or float a new one, insisting that they “were expelled and remain expelled.”

While the national leadership tussle simmers, the crisis has taken on a more dramatic dimension in Kano State, where the political relationship between Kwankwaso and his protégé, Governor Yusuf, appears to have broken down irretrievably.

Sources say the rift deepened after reports emerged that Yusuf was considering defecting from the NNPP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), allegedly with the backing of powerful forces at the centre.

In what appears to be a direct response, Kwankwaso reportedly opened a loyalty register for political office holders to formally affirm their allegiance to him and the Kwankwasiyya Movement: a move widely interpreted as an attempt to isolate the governor and assert control over the party’s grassroots machinery.

Symbolism played its own role in underscoring the schism. While Governor Yusuf marked his 63rd birthday in Abuja, surrounded by top government officials and NNPP chieftains, Kwankwaso conspicuously stayed away. Instead, the former governor was said to be holding “engagement meetings” at his Kano residence with stakeholders loyal to the Kwankwasiyya Movement.

The parallel activities, sources say, have polarised the NNPP and divided its ranks both within Kano and at the National Assembly.

So far, Yusuf appears to have secured firm control of the state structure. He reportedly enjoys the backing of all 40 members of the Kano State House of Assembly, led by Speaker Jibril Isma’il Falgore, as well as the 44 local government chairmen across the state.

However, the picture is less clear at the federal level. Kano has 21 members in the House of Representatives, 13 of whom were elected on the NNPP platform. None of the federal lawmakers has openly declared support for the governor’s alleged defection plans or publicly broken ranks with Kwankwaso.

Watchers are on the edge of their seats, guessing whether or not the NNPP can survive the Yusuf–Kwankwaso showdown as the 2027 election year approaches.