Dr Boniface Aniebonam is the founder and life member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

He had a media parley with a select journalists, where he opened up on critical issues affecting the party, including the actions of the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general elections, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, and why the convention organised by Kwankwasiyya camp is illegal, among other issues. Excerpt:

Considering the crisis in your party and the off-cycle elections in Edo and Ondo states, what are the chances of your party?

It is most unfortunate what is coming up, especially with the action of my good friend, Senator Kwankwaso. Each time I’m asked questions about the NNPP I get confused because I came with a clean mind, I went with an open mind, as a child of God. This is the least expectation of what I’m getting. My good friend is somebody that goes with this aura and manna. Manna means trust. So, I find it difficult to match what he is doing now and the manna. There’s no division in NNPP. What you see in the party is an internal crisis, it is a misunderstanding which will be resolved. Nobody can do it alone; I think what Kwankwaso needs now is prayers. It seems to me like something is wrong with him. His attitude and conduct are not normal. I’m still wondering what is wrong. Should that be due to some of the unemployed characters around him? I still want to understand what came over him. Could it be arrogance or pride? It still doesn’t make sense to me. If you look at somebody like me, when I had this engagement with him on behalf of the National Executive Committee (NEC), it was free. I gave him money. I know that before he came to me from records available to me other political parties were approached and he spent a lot of money, yet he didn’t have the opportunity to use their platforms to contest for the presIdent of the country. So, why all this? I still remember that thereafter, we packaged this political journey, I was the first to host him at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, and that cost me nothing less than N15 million. I also gave him money during his political campaign. I made contributions to his political campaign, not to talk about various governorship and other candidates. As I speak to you, I don’t know where the NNPP headquarters is. I have not been there. I’m wondering what Kwankwaso wants. Is it to hijack the party from the back door?

You said that you don’t even know where the headquarters of the party is, don’t you think it could be the reason they want to hijack the party from you?

I’m not a professional politician. I’m a messenger of God. Have you thought about it? This party was packaged in 2001 and pushed to this level. If we didn’t win elections, could he have even had the opportunity to come and contest an election? If we didn’t win elections, we would have been deregistered. Remember that there was a time when political parties were about 84 in this country. Now they have been pruned down to 18 and we survived. Where was Kwankwaso? Was he with us? Kwankwaso had a political party which he facilitated. That is where the NNPP headquarters is. It was deregistered. So, what is the pride about?

How soon can this squabble cease?

I say there is no crisis in the party. We have made our formal introduction to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the board to take over the party, while all these internal crises are being resolved otherwise the party may go down. We need to save the life of the party, and that is the function of the board. We have written to INEC in that regard and I’m sure that the issue is being processed. It’s just like what happened in the Labour Party.

Some Nigerians are concerned because there was a convention some days ago and you as the founder of the party reported not to be part of that convention. How do you react to that?

The fact that I was not part of it tells you that the convention is irrelevant. It is immaterial. You don’t need to be a lawyer to know that when a case is before a court, parties in the suit should maintain status quo. It means that the court has rested the case. It’s just to prove that they were lawless because they were duly served that this matter was before the court. If Kwankwaso is a respected person, which he should be, as former Minister of Defence, a former member of the Senate, and a two-term governor of Kano State, he should be law-abiding. He is supposed to provide leadership. I heard some people blaming INEC, but from my vantage position, the action was taken on Friday, Kwankwaso was served on the same Friday, I mean their group in the party. INEC was served on Monday and they held their engagement on Saturday. It should have been a contempt of court and I guess that was why they sneaked it in and got it done on Saturday. Whatever you saw that they had done, they had gone to the marketplace, gathered people and paid them. If you’re doing a convention where the founder of the party, who is a life member of the board doesn’t recognize them, does it make sense? Whatever Kwankwaso has in mind definitely, he won’t succeed. Even what he is doing is against the law of natural justice. You don’t betray somebody to that extent. Whatever contacts that he thinks he has, nobody is above God. Even before we call God we also can defend ourselves.

There was a story where the Kano State governor was asked to explain the reason he should be at a convention that was illegally convened, did he respond to that query or appear before the disciplinary committee as required?

Yusuf the governor of Kano State was elected under the platform of the NNPP, not Kwankwasiyya. If you unveil that particular convention you are talking about, you’ll know that was a gathering of Kwankwasiyya group of people. Whether you like it or not the understanding that we had on the memorandum and articles of association, was between NNPP as a registered political party and other parties, Kwankwasiyya, TNM and NAGAFF. TNM has since gone, but Kwankwasiyya is still clinging to the party. Maybe because some of the members of Kwankwasiyya in Kano who won elective positions felt that the party belonged to them. I think to an extent it is like somebody building a castle on a sinking sand. The whole thing can be summed up as greed and unappreciative. There is this question that you asked me, the last time that I saw Kwankwaso in Lagos was when I asked him to go and bring the national chairman of the party. I told him that there were issues that I wanted to resolve with him. He came alone and I told him that I would not see him unless he would come with the chairman. He asked me if the chairman was not with him, did it mean I would not see him? I told him, no, if it was on an official basis, but on a friendly basis, yes. I told him that since his trip to Lagos was official and since the chairman was not with him I would not see him. He said, okay. That was the parting word that we had. He said he would go back to Abuja and then come back to Lagos with the chairman. But he never did.

How long ago was that?

It was about six months ago. I don’t keep dates and I don’t even allow some of these things to bother me. I’m still waiting for him to come with the chairman. I’m the founder of the party, and Kwankwaso is my officer. There is nothing in life that is not owned by somebody. You can continue to deceive yourself. In the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for example, you have Ibrahim Babangida and the rest of them. You have seen the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) taking over the Labour Party. All these rabble-rousers keep saying that no individual owns it. Who says so? Somebody founded the party. Go and find out the meaning of founder and you get the explanation there clearly.

What are the plans of the NNPP to participate in the forthcoming Edo and Ondo states gubernatorial elections given the current happenings?

The answer is as simple as ABC, I have told you that there is no crisis in NNPP. The NNPP is still intact and I am the commanding officer, the founder. So, Kwankwaso can continue to change the logo, change the constitution, change the flag and I heard the logo is now that of his private school in Abuja. The logo is similar to the Kwankwasiyya logo. That is why I said that we should start praying for him because something is wrong with him. It’s so irresponsible to do things of that nature. Some of these distractions are unnecessary. As I speak to you, NNPP in Edo State is in court because the man that they wrote his name is a Kwankwasiyya man. We’re done with Kwankwasiyya. The case is in Appeal Court in Awka, and they have been duly served. As I speak with you now, there is a pre-election matter in court as regards Edo that is a distraction for the party. What do you want voters to do? They will just see you as an unserious person. Of course, we have other parties, the PDP, Labour Party and the All Progressives Congress (APC), which are very strong on the ground. Is that how we’re going to work? I’m still waiting for Kwankwaso to come. I’m the founder of the party. He said he would go and come back with the chairman so we can talk and he hasn’t come. I’m waiting for him. Let him come so I’ll ask what the problem is.

Have you reached out to him to ask him why he hasn’t kept his promise?

If I open my phone you’ll be shocked. I’ve called him, I’ve sent him messages, and he doesn’t pick up the calls and doesn’t reply to my messages. I’ve continued because I’m a father. He knows what he has in mind. The truth is that this party belongs to God. I’m not a professional politician. I’m not thinking of going to contest elections. This is what God wants me to do. Even when you look at the name, New Nigeria Peoples Party. I think that is what is attracting him. The name will provide this country with quality leadership. I don’t know how it would come, but it is going to come. In any case, Kwankwaso is not the first presidential candidate of NNPP, Idika Kalu was a presidential candidate of NNPP and some others. They have all added their values just like Kwankwaso did. With the situation on the ground, I don’t think that Kwankwaso will start nursing the ambition more of going for a presidential candidacy. Everything is on the Internet all over the world. I don’t even know if he is aware of what he is doing to his political career. You want to lead Nigeria and a small party like NNPP you cannot bring it together. If anybody is talking to him, he should listen and if he has this character of betraying trust, it’s so unfortunate. I have been avoiding speaking in this matter, but I think I need to speak on the matter. I don’t know whether he has been telling people that he is the owner of the party. (Sunday Sun)

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