The Public Relations Officer of the South West Chapter of the New Nigeria People’s Party, (NNPP), Hon Kilamuwaye Badmus has said that voters across the country did not have problem with the party’s logo during the 2023 general elections but said the complaint was that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) omitted the logo of the party on ballot papers in most states of the Federation.
Recall that the NNPP in a mini-convention last Saturday changed the party’s logo and slogan but this was immediately rejected by many members across the federation most especially the South West Chapter of the party, which has since described the action as illegal and something that cannot stand the test of time.
Defending the action in a television programme, the NNPP’s National Secretary, Mr Dipo Olayokun said the change of the logo was a result of complaints from members during the last general elections that the logo was not visible enough.
Reacting to this, Kilamuwaye said, Olayokun is turning the truth on its head, saying the complaints from the party leaders and voters in many states were that INEC omitted the logo on ballot papers and not that the logo was difficult to understand.
He said it is the same logo that Olayokun claimed wasn’t comprehensive by voters that gave the party the Governorship seat and majority members of national and state assembly in Kano.
“They have their own plan and the plan is to turn NNPP into Kwankwasiyya Movement. Nothing is wrong with our logo. The logo was used in Kano and we won the Governorship election, the National Assembly election, and won the majority in the state assembly election.
“Our complaint was that in many states like Ogun State for instance, INEC deliberately omitted our logo on the ballot papers and this caused us the Governorship election which ordinarily we would have won with wide margins”.
“Contrary to Olayokun’s claim, that the date for the mini convention was well communicated to members, most members got to know about the date for the convention on Saturday that it was held.
“What even shows their desperation in turning a national party like the NNPP into a Kwankwasiyya Movement is the violation of an Abuja High Court order that prohibits holding of convention till 2026.
“The question we need to ask the organiser of the mini-convention is why the hurry. Why jettison a court order?
“To us in the South-West NNPP, the mini-convention is illegal and we are not part of the changing of the party’s logo.
“You can’t change a party’s logo without carrying all members along. We stand by our position, that the new logo is not valid and is illegal. All the efforts put up by Olayokun in defending the illegal action cannot stand,” Kilamuwaye said.
