Tension In Maiduguri As Borno Govt Seals NNPP Office Ahead Kwankwaso’s Visit

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Friday, August 26th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Tension brews in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, as armed police officers took over the state secretariat of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) following its closure by the Borno State Government on Thursday.

The office was declared illegal and sealed by the Borno government which said it was meant to be a residential building. This comes at a time the opposition NNPP is preparing to host its leader and former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who is billed to visit the state on Saturday.

Thursday’s closure of the party office comes a day after the campaign office of the state’s NNPP governorship candidate, Umar Nasco, was also shut down by the officials of the Borno State Urban Development Board on the claims that it is located in a residential area of the city.

Mr Nasco is a former member of the ruling APC and one of the 2019 governorship aspirants of the party who contested and lost the ticket to incumbent governor Babagana Zulum. He later defected from the party to join the NNPP.

Addressing journalists on the matter, the NNPP state party chairman, Mohammed Mustapha, said the government of Borno State has violated the right and privileges of the opposition members as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “We are gathered here today to tell Nigerians that our rights have been violated by the government of Borno State under Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, who, for no reason, got our office sealed under the guise of operations of the state urban development board,” he said.

“We are even more shocked and surprised by how the Nigeria police moved in with a heavy deployment of armed policemen and a Mrap truck to seal up the office and arrest top officials of our party.

“This has grossly violated our right as a duly registered and recognised political party that has spread in all the nooks of the federation.”

The NNPP official said no formal notice was sent to them from the urban development board before their offices were occupied by the police.