They Betrayed The Party, We Don’t Need Them – NNPP Reacts As Lawmakers Set To Join APC After Meeting With Ganduje

The Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Hashim Dungurawa has reacted to the alleged defection of some top political figures from the party.

Sources who spoke to Punch  confirmed that top political figures of the NNPP attended a closed-door meeting, with the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

The strategic meeting is understood to be part of an ongoing series of consultations as the former NNPP stalwarts finalise their defection plans to the APC.

The meeting was attended by top NNPP lawmakers including Senator Sulaiman Kawu Sumaila, who represents Kano South Senatorial District; Kabiru Alhassan Rurum, the lawmaker for Rano/Kibiya/Bunkure Federal Constituency; Ali Madaki, representing Dala Federal Constituency; and Hon. Badamasi Ayuba, a former member of the House of Representatives for Danbatta/Makoda.

However, Senator Sumaila denied any defection plan.

Speaking to Nasara Radio Nigeria in Hausa language, the senator’s Special Assistant on Media Affairs, Abbas Adam Abbas, confirmed the meeting between the lawmakers, including Sumaila, with Ganduje, but said it did not signify a plan to dump the NNPP for the APC.

Reacting to the development, Dungurawa, dismissed the defectors as irrelevant, labeling them as traitors who had already been suspended from the party.

“They are not significant figures in the party. They betrayed the NNPP, and we had already suspended them before now. A disciplinary panel has also been established to investigate their activities,” Dungurawa told the aforementioned publication.

He further alleged that the defectors were acting on instructions from Ganduje with the aim of destabilising the NNPP from within.

“Alhamdulillah, this doesn’t come as a surprise to us. It’s now clear to the world—we have proven our earlier allegations that they were sent to create friction and cause divisions within our party. But we thank God that we discovered their motives early,” he said.

Asked how the party felt about their departure, Dungurawa was blunt: “Yes, politics needs people, but not traitors. We don’t need them.”

He emphasised the gravity of suspending any member, especially senior figures, but insisted that the NNPP stood firmly by its decision.

“It’s never easy to suspend even an ordinary member, let alone top figures. But we still don’t need them—they’re not important to us,” he added.