BY OBUTE JAMES
As the 2023 General Election approaches, Senator Suleiman Othman Hunkuyi, National Organising Secretary of the newly relaunched New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP said the party will make positive impact in the elections, restore confidence of people in governance and clear the mess in Kaduna State and all other states in the country.
Responding to questions in an interview, Senator Hunkuyi said the NNPP is fully preparing for the 2023 general election.
“I think the journey so far, I will say is good,” he said.
Hunkuyi said “The pace and the tempo is more dictated by the timeline and timetable which the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has come up with regulating the affairs and activities of the political parties across the board which NNPP is one.”
According to him, the party has embarked on membership drive which has recorded tremendous breakthrough as millions of Nigerians have embraced the party which was obvious through the membership registration.
He said the party had successfully conducted ward congress in over 9000 wards in the 774 lcal government areas in the country. He stated that NNPP had peacefully conducted local government congress, state congrss and national convention since it was relaunched recently.
On the sales of expression of interest and nomination forms as well as primary election, Hunkuyi said:
“We have commenced the sales of Nomination and Expression of Interest Forms for all the four or five tiers of elections. That is the State Assemblies, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Governorship and Presidential Elections.
“The sales of forms are likely to run from now to sometime in May, 2022.”
It was also observed that the cost of expression of interest and nomination forms range from N350,000 to N30,000,000 for state house of assembly aspirants up to presidential aspirants.
The youths, women and people living with disabilities are to obtain the expression of interest form free of charge while there is 50% discount for them on the nomination form.
On political aparthy and loss of confidence on governance, Hunkuyi said his party if voted to power will restore the lost confidence on governance.
Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi who was one of those that formed both the PDP and APC said he decided to abandon these parties despite his labour and efforts in the past years because the two parties have lost focus and abandoned the core aims and objectives they were formed for, resulting to untold hardship and pains on Nigerians.
Hunkuyi was one of these that formed the PDP particularly in Kaduna State. He was the National Deputy Organising Secretary of APC prior to his election in 2015 as Senator representing Kaduna North Senatorial District in the Senate.
Hunkuyi was also the Chairman Senate Committee on National Population and National Identity as well as Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs. He was instrumental to the National Population Bill that was recently passed by the Senate and House of Representatives during the consideration of the Constitution Review Committee’s Report. The bill makes it mandatory to conduct census in Nigeria every 10 years. Since 2006, there was no census conducted in Nigeria till date.
Hunkuyi said the party will come up very soon regarding its primaries in order to elect candidates for the general election.
Though NNPP was recently relaunched, he expressed optimism that the part will perform very well in the 2023 general election because of the unimaginable and untold hardship and pains APC government had brought on the country. According to him, the calibre of people in NNPP equally gives assurance that Nigerians will soon experience a new dawn.