The New Nigeria People’s Party has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop an alleged illegal national convention being planned by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s faction of the party.
In a court document with suit number; FHC/ABJ/CS /327/2024 obtained by our correspondent on Sunday, the party accused the Kwankwaso’s faction, led by Abba Kawu and Dipo Olayoku, of attempting to sabotage its activities and hijack the NNPP leadership.
It said the Kwankwaso group was planning to have a convention between March 23 and 26.
The party also petitioned the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force to intervene by preventing “any breach of peace that the illegal congresses and convention by Kwankwaso’s group may eventually lead to.”
In the suit filed by the Board of Trustees led by Temitope Aluko, the party insisted that Kawu and Olayoku remained expelled and their National Working Committee dissolved according to the constitution of the NNPP.
The NNPP BOT, in the suit, maintained that Kawu and Olayoku were no longer qualified to exercise the power of National Chairman and National Secretary due to their expulsion and dissolution of the NWC they superintendent.
“According to the information on the table of New Nigeria Peoples Party, it’s only Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who is in court battling to overturn his expulsion. The NNPP’s record clearly showed that Kawu and Olayoku of the Kwankwaso-led faction remained expelled and the NWC they led dissolved.
“Therefore any action taken by these two expelled officers are ultra vires,” the suit reads partly.
Meanwhile, the NNPP lawyer, Monday Mawah, in a petition to INEC National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, asked him to disregard the “notice of Congress/Convention hurriedly rescheduled for March 23rd to March 26 by the illegal NWC led by Kawu/ Olayoku.”
Mawah, in the petition, urged the electoral body to, as an independent umpire, steer clear of the planned illegal convention pending the determination of the matter in court.
The petition further stated, “We are counsel to the plaintiffs in the above-mentioned suit between the above parties.
“Please be informed that the above suit is instituted on behalf of the plaintiffs over the proposed purported congresses and convention.
“The plaintiffs have engaged our service to challenge the said purported notice and we have accordingly filed Originating Summons, Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction, interim injunction before the Federal High Court.
“We are by this notice notifying the commission not to get involved in the illegal congresses and convention proposed to hold from the 26th of March 2024.
“The commission as a law-abiding agent of the Federal Government is advised not to get involved in the proposed congresses in view of the pending suit.”
The NNPP lawyer also asked the DSS and police to investigate the allegations of illegal activities by the Kwankwaso faction.
While urging the security agencies to prevent the illegal convention from taking place, Mawah stated that there was a need for the protection of the rights and safety of party members.
