The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has reacted to a proposal by the United States Congress to impose a visa ban on its former presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, calling for a thorough investigation into the allegations against him.
The party also demanded that Kwankwaso be cleared of all accusations linked to the proposed sanctions.
Recall that US Congressman Riley Moore and some other lawmakers sponsored a bill seeking to sanction Kwankwaso, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), and Fulani herders over alleged involvement in gruesome killings and violations of religious freedom.
Reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the NNPP, Ladipo Johnson, described the allegations against Kwankwaso as false and politically motivated.
According to Johnson, claims that the former Kano State governor is involved in religious freedom violations are contrived and targeted at an innocent man.
He stated that Kwankwaso’s public record is available for anyone to examine and insisted that the former governor has no links to religious fundamentalism in Nigeria.
Johnson further linked the move by US lawmakers to Kwankwaso’s recent comments following the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by former US President Donald Trump.
Kwankwaso had earlier taken to his X account to caution the United States against making oversimplified assessments of Nigeria’s internal security challenges.
In his post, he maintained that Nigeria is a sovereign nation facing diverse security threats from criminal elements across the country.
However, his comments attracted a response from Congressman Moore, who wrote, “Governor, do you care to comment on your own complicity in the death of Christians? You instituted sharia law. You signed the law that makes so-called blasphemy punishable by death.”
Defending Kwankwaso, Johnson highlighted some of his achievements while in office.
“We recall that as governor of Kano State, Senator Kwankwaso ensured that Boko Haram was wiped out of the state, and his close relationship with Christian leaders in Kano and across the country attests to his credibility as a national leader and statesman,” he said.
He added, “Even when he was pressured to introduce Sharia, he still lost his election because predominantly Muslim voters punished him for supporting a Christian presidential candidate, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Furthermore, in 2023, he ran his presidential campaign with a Christian bishop, Bishop Isaac Idahosa, as his running mate.”
The NNPP also called on the US Congress and Congressman Moore to retrace their steps and conduct a comprehensive investigation into the allegations levelled against its leader before taking any action.
