Aniebonam says Kano governor did not resign from NNPP but Kwankwasiyya movement
Founder of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr Boniface Aniebonam, has said that Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State did not resign from the party but from the Kwankwasiyya Movement led by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Aniebonam made the assertion on Saturday in reaction to reports that the governor had resigned from the NNPP alongside several elected officials in the state.
In a statement, Aniebonam argued that Yusuf’s resignation letter was not addressed to the authentic National Working Committee (NWC) of the NNPP, led by Dr Agbo Major, nor to any recognised state or ward executive of the party. Instead, he said the letter was addressed to a member of the Kwankwasiyya movement in Diso-Chiranchi Ward, Gwale Local Government Area.
“The NNPP NWC does not recognise the Kwankwasiyya movement ward chairman as chairman of the party,” Aniebonam said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Governor Yusuf was said to have resigned from the NNPP alongside 21 members of the Kano State House of Assembly, eight members of the House of Representatives and 44 local government chairmen. The development was disclosed on Friday in a statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Sunusi Tofa.
Yusuf, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of Diso-Chiranchi Ward, announced his decision to leave the party with effect from Friday, January 23, 2026.
However, Aniebonam said neither Yusuf’s resignation nor that of the other office holders was known to him in his capacity as NNPP founder, leader and Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
He stated that the party had earlier lifted Yusuf’s suspension and directed him to assume leadership responsibilities as the highest elected officer of the NNPP in Kano State.
Aniebonam further cited court judgments, including those of the Abia State High Court and the Federal Capital Territory High Court, which he said directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Aniebonam-led Board of Trustees and NWC of the party.
According to him, the FCT High Court also restrained INEC from dealing with the Kwankwasiyya movement, which he described as a former pressure group within the NNPP whose memorandum of association with the party had been terminated after the 2023 general elections.
“The NNPP is a registered political party, while the Kwankwasiyya movement was merely a pressure group. Its leadership was expelled for anti-party activities,” he said.
He added that Yusuf and other elected officials in Kano were voted into office on the platform of the NNPP, bearing the party’s basket-of-fruits logo, and not the Kwankwasiyya insignia.
Aniebonam attributed INEC’s delay in updating its records to administrative lapses and insisted it had nothing to do with existing court judgments.
He said the party had no issues with Yusuf’s personal political decisions but blamed the reported exit of members in Kano on what he described as the high-handedness of Senator Kwankwaso.
Aniebonam urged NNPP members in Kano State and across the country to remain calm and committed, expressing optimism that the party would record more electoral successes in the 2027 general elections.
