The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has suspended its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Sen. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

The suspension is for six months over alleged anti-party activities.

The BoT accused Kwankwaso of hobnobbing with President Bola Tinubu, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Mr. Peter Obi, without the board’s authorization.

The BoT’s decision came after the NWC had earlier suspended the party’s founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, and the National Publicity Secretary, Agbo Major.

The BoT said that the NWC’s suspension of Aniebonam and Major was a “flagrant gross violation” of the party’s constitution.

The BoT appointed new national officers headed by Dr. Agbo Major as acting National Chairman and Mr. Ogini Olaposi as acting National Secretary.

The BoT also said that the pre-election Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Kwankwasia Movement, The National Movement (TNM) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) had been rendered void by the actions of the NWC.

Announcing the development at the end of a special meeting at the Rockview Hotels in Apapa, Lagos on Tuesday, Secretary of the BoT, Muhammed Abdulahi said, “The purported suspension of the founder is a flagrant gross violation of the NNPP constitution such that it is tantamount to recklessness and irresponsibility on the part of the incompetent NWC.

“The BoT decided that material evidence in the public sector affirmed that Kwankwaso was involved in anti-party activities in various meetings, suggest political discussions with the President, Atiku and Obi without authorisation from the board.

” This has earned him six months suspension pending the outcome of investigation by the Disciplinary Committee.

“The BOT insisted that the avoidable violation of MoU between NNPP on the one part and Kwankwasia, TNM and NAGAFF on the other has no other choice than to withdraw from the partnership.

“It is therefore to state clearly that the MOU have been rendered void.”

In a statement, the new acting chairman of the NNPP, Dr. Agbo Major, said his team would hit the ground running by healing the wounds created by the suspended NWC members.

Major said that the party would remain the most ordinary friendly party in the country and urged other members that are displaced for one reason or the other to return to its fold.

“We don’t intend to shut anybody out or censor anybody but we want to ensure that we remain on track and maintain our people oriented ideology,” he said.