|By Adejumo Adekunle
The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) has broken its silence over its absence from the ballot in Saturday’s Kano State House of Assembly by-elections, declaring that it deliberately withdrew its nomination to shield its candidates from possible disqualification by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The by-elections were conducted across 1,014 polling units in 24 registration areas within Ungogo and Kano Municipal constituencies. The exercise followed the deaths of former lawmakers, Aminu Sa’ad Ungogo and Sarki Aliyu, who reportedly died on the same day.
Speaking on Sunday in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, the NNPP Publicity Secretary in Kano State, Engr. Ibrahim Karaye, revealed that the party had initially unveiled the candidates who eventually contested under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“NNPP is the first party that announced the current APC candidates as its candidates,” Karaye said.
He explained that the party’s initial decision to back the children and families of the deceased lawmakers was driven by compassion and solidarity.
“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, however, alleged that the political atmosphere shifted dramatically after the Kano State governor defected to the ruling APC. According to him, the development triggered confusion and pressure around 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.
He further claimed that the party’s internal review concluded that the candidates were coerced into abandoning NNPP for the APC. Despite the switch, he said the party resolved to maintain its support for them.
“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 stressed that NNPP ultimately withdrew its nomination to avert the legal implications of double nomination, which could have prompted INEC to disqualify the candidates.
“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 withdrawal was strategic and taken in the best interest of the candidates to preserve their eligibility in the election, even though NNPP’s logo did not appear on the ballot.
Despite low voter turnout, the by-elections were reported to have been conducted peacefully. Major opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), were also absent from the ballot papers.
Parties that featured in the exercise included the Accord Party, All Progressives Congress (APC), APN, APP, PRP, WPP and ZLP.
