The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has explained why it did not appear on the ballot in Saturday’s Kano State House of Assembly by-elections, saying it withdrew its nomination to prevent its candidates from being disqualified by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The by-elections were held across 1,014 polling units in 24 registration areas of Ungogo and Kano Municipal constituencies, following the deaths of former lawmakers, Aminu Sa’ad Ungogo and Sarki Aliyu.
Recall that the two politicians died on the same day.
Speaking on the development on Sunday, the NNPP Publicity Secretary in Kano State, Engr. Ibrahim Karaye in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST said the party was actually the first to announce the eventual APC candidates.
“NNPP is the first party that announced the current APC candidates as its candidates,” Karaye said.
He explained that the party decided to support the children and families of the deceased lawmakers as a way of showing solidarity and reducing the pain caused by their deaths.
“The reason for doing that is to support their respective families and also reduce the pain of the death of their parents,” he stated.
However, Karaye said the situation changed after the Kano State governor defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), creating confusion among 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 alleged.
According to him, the party later reviewed the situation and concluded that the candidates were coerced into abandoning NNPP to join the APC.
“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 said.
He added that NNPP eventually withdrew its nomination to avoid the problem of double nomination, which could have led to their disqualification by INEC.
“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 maintained that the party’s decision was taken in the interest of the candidates and to protect their eligibility in the election.
He insisted that despite not being on the ballot, NNPP remained committed to supporting the candidates it had earlier endorsed.
DAILY POST observed that the by-elections were conducted peacefully despite low voters turnout.
Major opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), were missing on the ballot papers.
Participating parties included the Accord Party, All Progressives Congress, APC, APN, APP, PRP, WPP and ZLP.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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