The lawmaker representing Rano/Kibiya/Bunkure Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Kabiru Rurum, has distanced himself from Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s faction of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, aligning instead with the camp led by the party’s founder, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam.
Rurum, a former Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, declared on Sunday that he recognized the NNPP under Dr. Aniebonam—symbolized by a fruit logo—as the authentic one, dismissing Kwankwaso’s faction, which operates under a book logo.
He also urged Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to exercise his authority independently and refrain from taking instructions from Kwankwaso.
“My loyalty remains with Governor Yusuf,” Rurum stated, assuring Kano residents and his constituents that the governor is capable of taking the right steps for the state.
In response to questions about a potential defection, Rurum asserted that he remains a loyal member of the NNPP under Boniface’s leadership, while condemning Kwankwaso for allegedly hijacking the party for personal gain.
“Dr. Boniface provided Kwankwaso with a platform, and it is wrong to take the party from him and treat him poorly,” he said.
Following this announcement, the member representing Dala Federal Constituency also left the Kwankwasiyya movement, urging his supporters to abandon the red cap—the emblematic symbol of Kwankwasiyya’s ideology.
This shift comes in the wake of a recent order by the Uzuakoli Division of the High Court in Abia State, led by Justice C.U. Okoroafor.
The court, on November 1, 2024, mandated that the NNPP be immediately placed under the control of its Board of Trustees, chaired by Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, the party’s founder.
This order followed a suit filed by three NNPP members in Abia seeking resolution to the party’s leadership crisis.