The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) says the party will not repeat the mistake it made with its 2023 Presidential Candidate, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso in the choice of its 2027 presidential candidate.
The party’s Founder and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, confirmed the development in a statement in Lagos on Wednesday.
Aniebonam said the party’s final 2027 presidential candidate will not get an automatic free ticket but would be subjected to proper screening to determine his or her competitiveness and loyalty to the party and its leadership.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NNPP on Tuesday, announced that it has uploaded a placeholder presidential candidate on the Independent National Electoral Commission portal, ahead of the 2027 general elections, in line with electoral guidelines.
The NNPP founder disclosed that the party already has three serious presidential aspirants that shall be screened and adopted by the party in due time to replace the placeholder
“We had a lot of delays due to long drawn litigations, trying to stop Kwankwaso from hijacking the NNPP, in addition to this, INEC also worsened the situation for it’s non compliance to court orders on time.
“Aside from the delays, the internal wranglings caused by Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiya group also led to defection of some of our members to other political parties.
” NNPP is not deterred. We know that at the end, our aspirants will still make their mark in states and other positions.”
Aniebonam said the NNPP in its upcoming emergency NEC meeting , would be discussing the date for the concessions for particular set of candidates, and abridged nomination fees .
He said the NEC was equally to ratify the proposed litigation against INEC before their lawyers shall proceed to the federal high court to press for damage.
Aniebonam said that it was so sad and regrettable that INEC under the leadership of Prof of law and a senior advocate of Nigeria can braznely disobey court orders with such impunity.
The NNPP founder urged members who had left due to the internal crisis to return, promising a level playing ground for all.
“Our ticket is reasonable and responsible, female aspirants and physically challenged are granted concession.
“We are not opposed to agreements with other parties in some areas of contests, depending on our aspirants and decision of members.
“We remain open to discussions with other political parties of like ideologies.
“We are grateful to God that Kwankwaso did not succeed in hijacking our party. He betrayed us and we leave him to God,” Aniebonam added. (NAN
