The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) says it has fielded candidates for more than 90 percent of elective positions nationwide for the 2027 general elections, despite delays caused by litigation.
The party’s founder, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday while speaking with journalists after an emergency meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
The meeting, held behind closed doors at the Rockview Hotel in Apapa, Lagos, was attended by members of the NNPP NWC from across the country.
Aniebonam said the party’s decision to field candidates across various elective positions did not preclude it from entering into strategic alliances with political parties that share similar ideologies and interests with the NNPP ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The NNPP, as you all know, has had so many delays. We are happy that we have surmounted most of them. In the following weeks, Nigerians will begin to see and meet our candidates in their various states,” he said.
He added that the party was open to working with other political parties in areas where such alliances could strengthen its electoral prospects.
“We can work with parties where we feel they have a stronger hold and vice versa,” Aniebonam said.
On the issue of zoning the party’s presidential ticket, the NNPP founder said zoning was more applicable to political parties that had previously contested and won the presidency.
“If we will ever consider zoning, it will be when we would have won a presidential election,” he said.
Aniebonam said the NNPP had never supported the principle of zoning, arguing that the presidential candidate should be selected based on competence, integrity and the ability to deliver good governance.
“However, the NNPP has never supported the idea of zoning. We believe that the best person with integrity who can deliver should be allowed,” he said.
He added that even if future successors emerged from the same region, what mattered was their ability to provide good governance.
The NNPP founder further disclosed that the party would hold a non-elective national convention before the end of August to allow members to deliberate on key issues affecting the party.
“NNPP members have a lot of decisions to make on some issues that we do not want to be deliberated upon by the NWC alone. We want inclusive decision-making on those issues,” he said.
Aniebonam also urged members who left the party during its internal leadership crisis to return ahead of the replacement of placeholder candidates.
