NNPP investigates account of N1bn raised from sale of forms

The New Nigeria Peoples Party’s (NNPP) leadership crisis has taken a new turn, with the party’s new leadership, led by Dr. Agbo Gilbert Major, resolving on Sunday to conduct an investigation into the mismanagement of over N1 billion raised from the sale of forms to aspirants during the 2023 general elections.

The new leadership also requested written complaints from dissatisfied candidates who were shortchanged after depositing fees for forms into the party’s account, while revealing that it has vowed to restructure its structures at all levels across the country in the next few days and weeks.

Following a first meeting at the Abuja National Secretariat on Sunday, the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Abdulsalam Abdulrasaq, released a statement that contained this resolve and made it available to NAIJAPRESSNEWS.

The party also questioned the reasoning behind the Situation Room’s proximity to the presidential candidate’s personal property, deciding to form a committee to investigate it.

According to the statement, the site allowed for widespread corruption and manipulation, leading to the imposition of candidates.

Abdulrasaq also confirmed the party’s withdrawal from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU, signed with the Kwankwasiya Movement and the National Movement (TNM, claiming that the values of those two groups did not align with the party’s openness and inclusivity goals.

According to Abdulrasaq, the party resolved to investigate the rationale behind the denial of other presidential aspirants the right to purchase forms and participate in the primary election that it claimed produced Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso illegally, insisting that it violated the party’s spirit of fairness and equity.

He also urged the party’s many members and supporters to be calm in the face of what it called the “brazen assault of the Kwankwasiya movement,” whose followers were misled into believing 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.