Senator Barau Jibrin, the deputy president of the senate, has been welcoming several chieftains of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC)......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
The NNPP governs only one state in Nigeria (Kano), and has Mallam Rabiu Kwankwaso as one of its leaders.
Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano state as ex-senator, is a political rival of the incumbent APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje. Hence, the defections to the APC are considered a plus to Ganduje and his party.
In this report, Legit highlights some of the top NNPP chieftains who have joined the APC.
In September, Dambo, the special adviser on investment to Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano, resigned from his appointment.
Dambo also resigned from the NNPP alongside Rabiu Durun, another NNPP chieftain, who joined the APC.
The politicians were received by Jibrin at the latter’s residence in Abuja.
2) Abdulraham Mai Kadama
Dambo’s resignation from the NNPP administration in Kano followed that of Abdulraham Mai Kadama, the senior special assistant to the governor on entrepreneurship, who resigned from his appointment on August 15.
Like Dambo, Mai-Kadama also announced his defection to the APC after meeting the deputy senate president.
Mai Kadama, among other roles, was the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement in Plateau state and G-6 in Kano state before defecting to the APC.
3) Rufai Ahmed Alkali
Rufa’i Alkali, a former national chairman of the NNPP, is presently a member of the APC.
The development comes months after he resigned as the national chair of the party.
Also, Sulaiman Hunkuyi, a former senator and NNPP deputy national chair; and Ben Angwe, a former executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and NNPP legal adviser; joined the ruling central party.
They were formally received into the party by Ganduje at a ceremony in the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
4) Mohammed Garba Isimbabi
In August, Mohammed Garba Isimbabi, the member representing Toto/Gadabuke constituency at the Nasarawa state house of assembly, defected from the NNPP to the APC in Nasarawa state.
Speaker of the house, Danladi Jatau, announced the development while reading Isimbabi’s defection letter during the house proceedings in Lafia.
According to the speaker, Isimbabi cited division in NNPP at the national level as the major reason for his defection.
Jatau commended the lawmaker for “his bold step” in joining the ruling APC in the state.
1331 APC members join NNPP
Earlier, Legit reported that the APC lost 1,331 members to the ruling NNPP in Dawakin Tofa local government area (LGA) of Kano state.
The defectors mainly from 11 wards of the area included the former vice chairman of the LGA, Malam Kwa, and erstwhile state house of assembly aspirant, Audu Tumfafi.
During their meeting with Hashimu Dungurawa, the Kano state chairman of the NNPP, the defectors vowed to work against the APC.