Gov Yusuf’s Exit Won’t Affect Us, Says Ekiti NNPP

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Ekiti State has said the defection of the Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, from the party won’t affect its fortunes.

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The chairman of NNPP in the state, Adelusi Ayeni, who stated this in an exclusive interview with the  LEADERSHIP, in Ado Ekiti said the party will not miss the governor.

Recall that governor Yusuf of Kano state alongside over 20 members of the state House of Assembly last Friday resigned from the party.

Ayeni noted that Yusuf leaving the party may not be acceptable to the people because he was seen as its symbol, however, said that the party will get stronger without him.

He said, “His moving out of the party is normal. Now that he has left our party, the party will continue to operate, and be stronger too. Because, we now know that we no longer have him on our side, so we have to start again. Just like his emergence was without any base, apart from the support of our leader, Kwankwaso. As a party, we are not going to miss him in NNPP.

“NNPP is a political party led by Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. What happened is that , the executive governor of Kano state, Abba Kabir Yusuf, is the only governor that we have, no doubt. But within the party, what may not be known to the outsiders, he has not been of any  positive influence to the party, since he assumed office. There is nothing significant he has done for the emancipation or expansion of the party.”

Speaking on the gale of defection from other parties  to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the NNPP Chair posited that the trend in Nigerian politics is an indication that the country is drifting towards one party state.

According to him, “You see politicians are always ambitious and trying to expand their presence. You cannot say because APC is the ruling party, it should stop expanding, the party will continue to struggle to expand until probably before you know it, it will turn the country to a one party state.”

He expressed the view that defection is majorly  as a result of greediness on the part of politicians in Nigeria.

“They do it without conscience to defend their principles. Ordinarily, if a governor is not greedy, why rush to join the ruling party. Is it out of the reduction in the budget or federal allocation coming to the state or will get more? But it is because he believes he will get more, not even protection, to get another thing. They always believe in more accessibility to federal funds than those in opposition.

“But will  the extra money they are craving go to benefit the people or to benefit  themselves? It is for the benefits of themselves not the people. So, I want to put it to you that, it is because of their selfish end that they are rushing to the ruling party”.

On whether Yusuf’s exit from NNPP will affect the chances of the party in the June 20 governorship election in Ekiti state, he  said, “I am the chairman of the party in Ekiti state, I don’t believe in that affecting us. Because ordinarily, if the Kano governor has been there in NNPP, I do not see him releasing money to assist us here.

“Psychologically, people may think that because we don’t have a governor there , we may experience apathy here. We want to assure our people, that by the grace of God, our governorship candidate, Hon. Blessing Abegunde is upright, dedicated, committed and astute enough to deliver the good and is not leaving any stone unturned, working round the clock to make sure he convinces the public to his side and we are making in-road . We don’t see his resignation from our party affecting our election in June in anyway”.

Speaking on the rumoured Kwankwaso and Peter Obi joint presidential ticket for 2027, he said, “It is visible and will help our party. We are saying that the NNPP may not be strong enough to go into elections all alone , so we are talking to parties like APC, ADC and others. Parties are also talking to us and it is ongoing. As of today, we have not decided on which party to work with but we are open to discussion, agreement and alignment with other political parties,” he said.