‘They Were Forced’ — NNPP Reveals Shocking Withdrawal from Kano By-Election
The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has given reasons for its absence from the ballot in Saturday’s Kano State House of Assembly by-elections.
The party said it withdrew its candidates to avoid disqualification by the electoral body.
The by-elections were conducted in Ungogo and Kano Municipal constituencies after the deaths of two lawmakers, Aminu Sa’ad Ungogo and Sarki Aliyu.
Both lawmakers passed away on the same day, creating vacancies in the state assembly.
Speaking on Sunday, the Kano State Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Engr. Ibrahim Karaye, said the party initially presented candidates for the polls.
“NNPP is the first party that announced the current APC candidates as its candidates,” Karaye said.
He explained that the party adopted the children and family members of the late lawmakers as its flagbearers in order to honour the deceased and support their families.
“The reason for doing that is to support their respective families and also reduce the pain of the death of their parents,” he stated.
Karaye said the situation later changed following the defection of the Kano State governor to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
He alleged that the move created pressure and uncertainty for the candidates.
“Fortunately, in the middle of all that, the governor defected to the ruling APC and they were confused and threatened by government agents, which forced them to align with the state government,” he said.
According to him, the NNPP reviewed the development and concluded that the candidates did not leave the party willingly.
“After that, we reviewed the situation and realised that they were coerced to abandon us and join the ruling APC. We then resolved to still support them as our sole candidates,” Karaye added.
He said the party later withdrew its nomination to avoid breaching electoral rules.
“For that reason, we withdrew our nomination of them for fear of double nomination that may lead to their disqualification by INEC,” he explained.
Karaye insisted that the decision was taken to protect the political future of the candidates and not to abandon them.
He said NNPP still stood by the candidates despite not appearing on the ballot.
The by-elections were held across 1,014 polling units in 24 registration areas of Ungogo and Kano Municipal.
Observers reported peaceful voting, although turnout was low in many polling units.
Major opposition parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party and the African Democratic Congress were not listed on the ballot papers.
Nevertheless, parties that took part in the election included the APC, Accord Party, APN, APP, PRP, WPP and ZLP.
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