The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) is one of the many small, sometimes one-man sponsored, ill-organized, fractious and poorly run opposition parties that Nigeria has. It exists mainly and is dominant in Kano state. And in this Tinubu era politics where the all-conquering hegemonic leader himself is an enthusiastic destroyer or agent of desolation and confusion in all the opposition parties, the NNPP is not finding it easy at all in the run up to next year’s presidential and general elections.
The party is being torn apart by weapons fashioned against it by the ruling party and various maneuvers by powerful individuals within it aimed at gaining undue advantage for fulfilment of their personal ambitions. The party’s founder and strongman, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has his plans, the party’s only governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has his own plans. The party’s big-wigs and ordinary members all have their own plans. In the face of all these, there is no one who has the skills and moral authority to aggregate the various plans and harmonize them for the good of the party. This is a fair summary of the state of affairs of the party right now
I think the trouble the NNPP is now having in its ranks was provoked by the overture made by Tinubu to its founder Kwankwaso to come on board his ruling party and possibly be his running mate in his 2027 re-run election if he sticks to the Muslim-Muslim ticket. The NNPP and all in it realise that this is a poisoned chalice. If Kwankwaso agrees, it will shallow the NNPP. Even as he has not agreed, the idea, once that it has now been injected, is crystallizing the commotion in the NNPP.
Under Tinubu, most, if not all, opposition parties are perpetually at war with themselves mainly because of the ill-wishes the APC bears them. In this, the NNPP is not an exception.
But what makes the fight for survival or possible disintegration of the NNPP remarkable, and which has attracted the attention of this commentator, are two interesting ideas that have emanated from two members of the party. The first is from the party leader Kwankwaso himself, who is obviously traumatized by the defection of Governor Yusuf to the APC, declared January 23 as the World Betrayal Day. Kwankwaso is, by this, saying that it is not the United Nations that has the exclusive preserve of declaring any day as a special day for the world to focus attention on any issue that is of concern to him or humanity. In the world of Kwankwaso, the NNPP and the supporters of the Kwankwassiyya movement in Kano, what happened on January 23 is a political event of such monumental significance that it is equivalent to an earthquake that measures8.0 on the Richter Scale
According to the astute politician, that day will henceforth be marked by special events to remind members of his kwankwassiyya movement of what happened on that day that one of his most trusted loyalists who was ‘’virtually given’’ the Kano governorship on a platter of pure gold should ditch him. According to Kwankwaso’s thinking, this event is so significant in the history of party politics in Nigeria and in the rest of the world that it should not be glossed over or ignored but it should be recognized for what it is, a monumental betrayal from a trusted protégé that deserves the attention and contemplation of philosophers, intellectuals, psychologists, public affairs and political commentators.
The second interesting development that has arisen from the unpleasant contestation in the NNPP is that it has given rise to what has now gone down in the history of party politics in Nigeria as the shortest resignation letter ever written by a member of a political party to his party quitting its membership.
The letter reads:
The Ward Chairman,
New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP),
Dun-Dun Ward,
Ajingi Local Government,
Kano State.
LETTER OF RESIGNATION FROM THE NEW NIGERIA PEOPLE’S PARTY (NNPP)
Mr. Chairman, I quit.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
Abubaka Muhammed Inuwa
If I were that ward chairman of that Dun-Dun ward, I will address a reply to that man who is in a hurry to leave our party as follows:
Abubakar Muhammed Inuwa,
(My dear former party colleague),
New Nigeria Peoples Party
Care Dun-Dun Ward
Ajingi LGA
Kano State.
Re: Letter of Resignation
My dear Abubakar,
I will not bother here to acknowledge receipt of your letter of resignation dated January 23, 2026 because from the tone and style of your letter, you are not a man who likes niceties. You go straight to the point on matters so I will not waste your time with formalities or frivolities. So, my response to yours aforesaid is simply as follows: ‘’I accept’’. In fact, if I want to be briefer than yours is, my final reply is: ’’Accepted’’.
While I wish you well in your move to a new party, I wish to remind you that I remain an ever faithful member of the one and only New Nigeria People’s Party and look forward most enthusiastically to the celebration of the first anniversary of the World Betrayal Day declared by our beloved leader coming up on January 23, 2027, barely eleven months away.
Yours faithfully,
Dun-Dun Ward Chairman.
