Interim report of NNPP crisis

NNPP CRISIS: INTERIM REPORT BY THE PEACE COMMITTEE. Further to the earlier Statement issued on the brewing crisis in the NNPP, the National Peace Committee hereby issues the following preliminary Report. INTRODUCTION. The Committee took time to receive and dissect submissions made by the dramatis personae in the crisis, including the Founder,Dr Boniface Aniebonam, and some members of the National Working/ National Executive Committee. The National Leader, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, other leading lights in the Party such as Alhaji Buba Galadima, Prince Onu, Oladipupo Olayokun, Dr Major Agbo, etc, were duly heard on the way forward for the party. It equally heard from some of the purportedly “suspended”/ “expelled” and purportedly “reinstated” States Chairmen including those of Niger, Ogun and Enugu States . Relevant provisions of the NNPP Constitution including Articles 12.3.1( Establishment and Composition of the Board of Trustees); 12 3.4( Functions of the Board of Trustees); 12.3.2( Powers and Functions of the National Executive Committee); 29.3( Disciplinary Procedures); and 40.1( Amendments to the Constitution) were referenced. FINDINGS. The National Peace Committee was able to decipher the real issues in controversy between the warring parties which have been unfortunately allowed to fester, threatening the corporate existence of the Party itself. These include: 1. Alleged moves, scheming, and actions by the Presidential Candidate/ National Leader to hijack the Party and emasculate its founding fathers, replacing them with the Kwankwasiyya group. Part of this scheming, it was alleged, is the proposed amendment of the Constitution to whittle down the powers of the Board of Trustees, and the BOT Chairman/ Founder, for that matter. 2. A counter allegation is that some leaders in the old NNPP have been massively compromised by leaders of the Opposition Political Party in Kano to discredit Kwankwaso and reduce his influence in the NNPP. 3. The “expelled” States Party Executives are alleging lack of fair hearing in their suspension and subsequent expulsion. 4. The recent purported suspension of Dr Boniface Aniebonam from the Party is considered by his supporters as an affront of unequal proportions and a flagrant overthrow of the NNPP Constitution since the said Constitution confers “Life Membership” to him in the Party’s Board of Trustees. RECOMMENDATIONS: The National Peace Committee recommends as follows:. 1. An immediate withdrawal, by the National Working Committee, of the ill-advised, ill-conceived purported suspension of Dr Boniface Aniebonam and a Letter of Apology to him for such obvious act of indiscretion. He is the Founder of the Party and he provided his Party’s platform for the various contests in the immediate past General Elections in Nigeria. Accordingly, he deserves his due honour and respect,at all times and for all legitimate purposes. 2. An urgent meeting between the Founder,Dr Boniface Aniebonam and the National Leader, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso. The meeting should, in the first instance, be brokered by the Acting National Chairman of the Party, Alhaji Abba Ali. Follow up meetings should be exclusive to them without any 3rd party. 3. The National Executive Committee (NEC) should be convoked with a view to reversing the suspensions/ expulsions of States Chairmen and their Executives , and other recent suspensions which triggered off the burgeoning crisis. This will induce confidence and herald a return to constitutionality, order and Democratic rule in the party. 4. The National Working Committee ( NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) should suspend any move to amend, or recommend amendments to,any provisions of the Constitution, save such amendments geared towards effecting changes to innocuous issues like evolving a new logo for the party. Amendments intended to detract from, or whittle down the powers of, any organ of the party as presently constituted, can only but engender bad blood and deepen suspicion of hijack of the party from its founders , which development cannot conduce to the required peace,unity and oneness of the party as desired by its teeming supporters. 5. All hostile press conferences, press releases and television interviews that seek to escalate the crisis should be put on hold. NNPP is out to provide Nigerians with credible opposition, presently, and to urgently position itself for massive victories at all levels in the 2027 General Elections. It can only attain these goals if it remains united and enlarges its membership, and NOT by suspensions, expulsions and exclusionary policies and actions. LET WISE COUNSEL PREVAIL !!! Barr Azubike Anazor, Chairman, National Peace Committee, NNPP. 07062658599