NNPP CRISIS: THEY MADE A HILL OUT OF A MOLEHILL, IT’S PURELY POLITICAL – DIPO OLAYOKUN

NNPP CRISIS: THEY MADE A HILL OUT OF A MOLEHILL; IT’S PURELY POLITICAL—DIPO OLAYOKUN

BY PRINCE BENSON DAVIES

The National Secretary of The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Dipo Olayokun, has weighed in on the ongoing internal leadership wrangles in the party between its founder, Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam and its 2023 Presidential Candidate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, in an exclusive interview with The New Experience Newspaper.

Dipo Olayokun hails from Abeokuta, Ogun State, where he had his primary education. After which, he attended Baptist Boys High School.
His parents, who both hail from Abeokuta, Ogun State, are late and of blessed memory.

After his secondary school, he worked in the ministry for some time. Then he also worked with some private individuals before gaining admission to Ogun State University, where he studied English.

After his mandatory one-year National Youth Service (NYSC), he attended University of Lagos.
He has a Master’s degree in English Studies. Consequently, had a brief spell in teaching.
“from there, joined broadcasting. Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation; from there, I was headhunted and joined DBN television. While at DBN TV, I rose to become the head of news; at one point,I was the acting general manager of the station in Lagos.

From DBN TV, I joined MBI, where I rose to the position of Head of Lagos Bureau. It was at MBI that I met Dr. Boniface Aniebonam. Apart from being the head of news, I was also producing a programme called Political Platform, where politics and everything associated with it were being discussed.

That was how I got to know Dr. Aniebonam, because he was always coming on the show and even sending some of his men. When I left MBI, I joined a magazine, Alternative View Magazine, where I was the managing editor until I moved to join Dr. Aniebonam in NAGAFF around 2006/07.I was at NAGAFF and later rose to become the secretary general.

“In 2022, when His Excellency Sen.Kwankwaso’s people came to join the NNPP, I had to be deployed to the NNPP and became the national secretary, he shared.

Olayoku revealed that after Dr. Aniebonam intimated him of his decision to step down as the leader of the party in 2022, in his village in Omawulu in Awka Anambra State, I was directed to proceed to Abuja, where we had a series of meetings with the representatives of Sen. Kwankwaso in Abuja. Dr. Aniebonam, on each occasion, identified Sen. Kwankwaso as someone he saw in a vision as the person who God has sent to take the NNPP to provide “the greater good for the greater majority of Nigerians.”. Something of divine intervention.

‘‘On the night of the party’s national convention in 2022 in Abuja, after Dr. Aniebonam had announced publicly that he had had enough, he was stepping aside for Kwankwaso to take over. In the evening of the day, all of us went to Sen. Kwankwaso’s house from Dr.’s hotel. It was there that Kwankwaso said, No, sir, you cannot just go like that. We are going to give you the chairman of the board when the board is constituted. You cannot detach yourself completely from the party. Yes, we appreciate the fact that you want to go and take care of your health, but at least there should be something that is connecting you to the party, so let’s make you chairman of the board.

“I think there was still an understanding between both of them. After that, some people came and made a hill out of a molehill; that is why we are where we are today, Olayokun revealed’’.

He also maintained that the NNPP National Convention, which was held on April 2–6, 2024, in Abuja, is legal, has court backing, and duly involved INEC monitoring, contrary to assertions being made in some quarters.

“No individual can declare any action illegal except the Court of Law. The last national convention that we had on the 6th of April and the NEC on the 5th of April were originally scheduled for March 23rd, but two guys, our former chairman in Ekiti, Olayinka Dada, and of Rivers, Richard Kalada, went to court to stop the convention and the National Executive Council meeting as well as the congresses that were conducted in the 13 states where the executives were dissolved.

“They went to court, and part of their prayer is that the court should restrain us from going ahead with any of those activities because, according to them, they were unjustly and unlawfully removed and their excos dissolved.

“So on the basis of that, they have the matter pending in court, so they wanted the court to stop the national convention.

“They went by way of injunction, and the Court did put us on notice to come and show cause why he should not grant their request. By the second day, after we were served with the court papers, our lawyers filed their brief. Because we are respecters of the law, on the basis of that comment by the Court, we wrote a letter to INEC, suspending all those activities mentioned by those guys.

“However, the Court, after listening to us and to them, gave a ruling on Thursday, March 21, 2024, that having considered all the matters brought before him, that is, Justice Obiora Egwatu, he does not see any reason why the Court should stop our national convention. We should go ahead with all the activities we have lined up.

“After getting the certified true copy (CTC) of the judgement, we wrote another letter to INEC saying that we wanted to resume our activities, which we suspended on the basis of a matter that was in court. They joined INEC in the matter, so INEC was ably represented by their own lawyer at the court, who knows the judgement given by the court.

“So, on the basis of that, because we attached the CTC of the Court judgement, INEC, on the basis of that, monitored all the activities. On the day of our national convention, INEC was massively represented. You know, INEC also has a legal department that has Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) there. There are more than one or two. So, they know the implication of every Court pronouncement.

“That’s just how and why we held the National Convention and the NEC meeting.”

Describing the crisis as purely political, the NNPP National secretary urged external parties to restrain from interfering and fueling things with unfounded assumptions and utterances, as he described those accusing him of betrayal as ignorant.

“If anybody is talking about betrayal, that means the person does not know the meaning of betrayal. Let the person go and look at the dictionary.

“It’s not good to be talking from the point of ignorance. I talk to a lot of people, and I know their attitude and their mind towards what is happening, which we cannot say here. If there’s anyone talking about betrayal, the person is talking from the point of ignorance, and it is very dangerous when you are in the dark or when a blind person is trying to lead people; he or she will lead them to the gutter.

“There is no betrayal anywhere if only the person gets to know the true story. I don’t want to delve more into that, he noted.

On the 2023 presidential elections, Olayokun maintained that Kwankwaso was the only candidate who had direct contact with grassroots Nigerians and that during his campaign, the NNPP candidate was the only one who went to the LGAs to meet with citizens at the grassroots.

According to him, the party was surprised when the results were announced after the election because it did not match our efforts and expectations.

“He was the only candidate who visited local governments. Other candidates only went to the state capital, do what they called rally or jamboree and didn’t say anything. But this man visited close to 600 LGA headquarters across the country, going by road.

“Many of the senior officers of the party who accompanied him will tell you. He was having direct contact with the people of Nigeria, moving from local government to local government, moving from one village to the other

“At times, he will be on the road for 15 days, come back to Abuja, replenish for 3 or 4 days and hit the road. I have never seen that kind of campaign in my life. Except something close to it in 2019, it was Gubernatorial campaign

“So that is why, when the results started coming and after the election, we were shocked, because we knew what the people told him when they met him. People said they have never seen a presidential candidate that will come to their level to come and campaign.

“It was then we discovered that we had problems with our logo. Our logo gave us a real problem, but that is politics. 2023 has gone; everybody is looking forward to 2027’’.

He also reiterated that the process of changing the party’s logo took a year, between April 2023 and April 2024 and involved consultations and meetings with leaders of the party, as opposed to what is been purportedly said: that the logo was changed overnight. The first Memo calling on our members to contribute ideas to a new logo was issued on April 2, 2023.

On how it plans to build a strong hold and spread its tentacle to other parts of the country, the NNPP’s Chief Scribe noted that the performance of the governor of Kano state, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf, after three years will be the driving force for the party to get to the hearts of Nigerians, expressing confidence in the governor to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people. Just as Kwankwaso did during his term as governor of Kano State, the governor is well known and respected by the people of the state, the governor is well known and respected by the people of the state, the governor is well known and respected by the people of the state, magnanimous, selfless service to Humanity, benevolent, A very humble man, born into a good family under the guidance of his late grandfather, Alhaji Yusuf Bashari, who served as the District Head of Gaya
He have held so many political office as Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Institute for Educational planning and Administration (NIEPA) in Ondo State in 2011 under the Umaru Musa Yaradua government,also served as personal assistant to Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso when he was the federal minister and was appointed Commissioner of Works, Housing , and Transport in Kwankwaso.

He contested under PDP in 2019 and lost narrowly to the incumbent Excellency Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje , though “controversial.”
Switch to NNP in 2023 and emerge as the winner on march 20, 2023. He received his certificate of return on march 29, 2023
Abba Kabir was elected governor of Kano State on the platform of the NNPP on may 29, 223, alongside his running mate,Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo.

A gift to the people of Kano by the almighty God, so loved by his people, a gentleman to the core, in short, he is popularly known and call in the state as ” ABA GIDAGIDA.”

Olayokun used the opportunity to call for an end to the crisis as he urged members of the party to maintain a united front and strategically position itself as a major party in the country.

Meanwhile, recognizing the fact that the internal Leadership crisis in New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) may eventually create a Vacuum, a group known as Nigerian Youth for New Nigeria, in a communiqué made available to our correspondent, has called on the Founder of NNPP, Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam, who, by the Constitution of the Party, is the Life Member of the Board of Trustees, to take over the Leadership and Administration of the Party to forestall any unforeseen and avoidable breach of Peace .

They emphasized that the Board of Trustees, in times of internal crisis and wrangling, should live above board and ensure that everything possible is done to salvage the party from total collapse.

Olayokun called on all supporters of the party not to waiver in their unflinching support but to remain steadfast and enthusiastic as the party prepares fully to participate in the upcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states and other elections in other parts of the country. The NNPP, as a formidable party, has come to stay. Nobody, by God’s grace, can destroy its formation by the founding fathers.