2023: Three aspirants jostle for NNPP presidential ticket – Founder
The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) says at least, three aspirants have indicated an intention to vie for its ticket to contest for the nation’s presidency in the 2023 general elections.
Dr Boniface Aniebonam, NNPP pioneer National Chairman and founder, disclosed this in an interview on Sunday in Lagos.
Aniebonam, who noted that the future of the party was bright with top politicians coming into the fold, singled out former Kano governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso as one of the big wigs that had attracted a mass of goodwill for the political group.
According to him, the popularity of NNPP has continued to spread in the north and the south as it moves to provide strong leadership that will create a new Nigeria in 2023.
“NNPP is open for any Nigerian man that has divine calling to lead Nigeria at this critical time. Once it is within the time frame, the door is open.
“At least three persons have shown intention to contest the presidency on the platform of NNPP. I have seen their posters. One is from the North, one from the South-East and another from the South-West. We expect more,” he said.
Aniebonam said that the party was available for credible aspirants whose dream was to create a new Nigeria.
Explaining why the party was gaining more ground in the north than in the South, Aniebonam said that politics was “a kind of industry better understood in the north”, adding, however, that the party had also been spreading in southern Nigeria.
He said that the party had been creating awareness and was ready to popularise its ideals everywhere.
“Within these two months, we have conducted congress elections from the ward, local government, state to national levels throughout the federation.
“NNPP is not a party of yesterday, it is a party that has been growing gradually. The gale of defections into its fold gave it a boost. We are in all parts of the federation. We are coming and will be there,” he declared.
Aniebonam said that NNPP had been making waves in some parts of the Southwest, Southeast and South-south, saying that the party would soon roll out its campaign strategy.
On how NNPP intended to get credible candidates to fly the party’s tickets in 2023, Aniebonam said that there would be an investigative procedure that would look at aspirants’ track record of integrity, capacity and experience.
He said the party would be presenting candidates committed to bequeathing Nigeria’s enduring infrastructure, economy and peaceful existence.
“A cardinal policy of the NNPP is to sit the people of Nigeria down to look at the issue of fiscal federalism and the need to live in peace,” he said.
The NNPP founder called on the media to be bold toward building a Nigeria that would work for all.
On the agitation for Igbo Presidency, Aniebonam said that the two major political parties that had such internal arrangement must respect that gentleman agreement and implement it.
“The PDP and APC have been in power over time and should be faithful to their zoning arrangement.
“In the NNPP, zoning is not our priority. We have never tasted power, we do not even know what is zoning.
“As far as we are concerned, we are in search of a person that can make us show Nigerians that those things that have been our problems over the years can be resolved.”
He said that political leaders in Nigeria should be conscious and passionate about the children while also prioritising fairness, justice, equity and fear of God.
Aniebonam said that the pulse of the nation required someone to rescue the masses in 2023.
The NNPP founder said: “Who comes to lead us now and bring us out from where we are should be what will be in the mind of a patriotic Nigerian.
“The person that has that divine calling to salvage Nigeria from its challenges. That is what should occupy the mind of a patriot.
“With the state of the nation now, Nigeria needs to be salvaged.
“When you look at Nigeria, you must be equitable, fair and just to every ethnic group.
“What we need is a great leader who is courageous enough to sit down and invite all the critical stakeholders that made up Nigeria in a roundtable, and look at how to keep Nigeria working and going. That’s is the way out.”
The NNPP leader said there was a need to tinker with the nation’s constitution, and suggested the need for Nigerians to give themselves a brand new constitution that would resolve all issues.
Aniebonam decried the security situation, inflation and unemployment in the country, and alleged that conspiracy at some quarters was responsible for the lingering insecurity.
“We have to look at the issues critically. With state police, proper profiling of people and involvement of traditional institutions, the situation can be resolved.
“If we want to do away with insecurity, it requires leadership and decisiveness. We need a divinely courageous man to make decisions.
“If there is support to the royal highnesses as chief security officers of a town, and we profile everybody living in our domain, insecurity will stop,” he said.
NAN/Nnenna.O
