Frustrated by systematic administrative setbacks, the NNPP slams INEC over prolonged delays in updating its leadership structure and threatens a massive showdown.
The Dr. Boniface Aniebonam-led faction of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has strongly blamed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for severe setbacks in concluding its candidate screenings and scheduling party primaries.
Expressing deep frustration, the party indicated that it has been left with no viable options other than to actively mobilize its members for a massive, high-profile protest at the electoral commission’s national headquarters in Abuja. Although the NNPP had previously shelved a planned demonstration over similar logistical grievances following appeals from prominent citizens who feared the action could be hijacked by hoodlums to cause public mayhem, the party insists that its patience has worn thin.
In a strongly worded press statement released on Thursday, the NNPP National Secretary, Mr. Ogini Olaposi, lamented that the regulatory body is deliberately pushing the political party to the wall with inexplicable delays that threaten to entirely jeopardize its constitutional rights to fully participate in the upcoming 2027 general elections.
According to Olaposi, the NNPP has consistently utilized all available legal avenues to compel the commission to respect valid court orders and halt what it perceives to be artificial bottlenecks masterminded by disgruntled former members who defected from the party.
The scribe revealed that a high-level meeting on May 19 between the NNPP leadership, the INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, and his senior management team initially offered hope, yet the commission has completely failed to honor its promise to revert swiftly.
Specifically, INEC has adamantly refused to comply with a definitive judicial directive ordering it to upload the NNPP’s authentic National Working Committee (NWC) led by Dr. Agbo Major within 72 hours, a failure Olaposi warns sends a highly dangerous signal regarding the rule of law ahead of the next electoral cycle.
The party further expressed profound shock that despite an explicit order from a Federal Capital Territory High Court compelling INEC to deregister the Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso-led Kwankwasiya Movement – which it terms a rogue faction – and return to the party’s original logo and colors, the commission remains completely defiant 60 days post-judgment.
Warning that Kwankwaso and his key allies like Buba Galadima, Dr. Ahmed Ajuji, and Ladipo Johnson have already moved on to the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), the NNPP declared that it will no longer sit idly by while institutional delays cost it participation in critical off-cycle elections, vowing to aggressively enforce its constitutional right to peaceful protest to correct this injustice.
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