By Iliya Kure
Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in Gombe State, Dr. Rambi Ayala has dismissed the call by individuals seeking for his removal as chairman over infractions, describing the callers as non-NNPP members.
On Monday, a group of people who described themselves as stakeholders of NNPP in Billiri Local Government Area of the state passed a vote of no confidence urging the National leadership to remove Ayala from office.
Ayala’s offence, according to the group, is the constitution of Yila Dankuka’s executive without recourse to one chaired by Ambrose Mairungu.
But in a reaction, Ayala told AFRICA PRIME NEWS that LGA stakeholders handled activities of the party at the LGA level and that he only acts based on their decisions.
Explaining why he inaugurated the Dankuka as leader, Ayala said, “Ambrose has been expelled by the stakeholders of Billiri from the party. Yila Dankuka is the one unanimously elected by them to fill the vacancy,” he said.
According to him, a formal letter was received at the State party secretariat from Billiri LGA stakeholders notifying them that Ambrose Ismaila Mairungu had been expelled at a meeting held on February 25.
The State party chairman emphasized that “There is no faction whatsoever in Billiri NNPP, those parading themselves are people sponsored by the opposition,” he said.
Party Reorganization
“We just concluded an exercise of filling in offices that were either vacant or not filled in, across all levels in the state in line with Article 30 of our party’s constitution.
“When we came in, we took an audit and stock of the party; there were vacancies and some of the offices were not filled in, especially at the ward level.
“Remember the circumstances that brought me in as the acting Chairman of the State. The then chairman had abdicated, abandoned, and left the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the peak of the 2023 elections.
“We are repositioning the party as not only a third force but the only viable alternative for our people and the state. This is causing sleepless nights to the opposition political parties,” he added.
According to the state party chairman, statistics show that NNPP executives from the ward to state level numbers up to 3801.
He said the party was set to begin a membership drive, “at the moment our membership is about 300,000 and we are targeting 1m card-carrying members,” he said.