As factional head Major Agbo reported a plan to assassinate him on Thursday, the crisis roiling the New Nigeria Peoples Party, or NNPP, reached new heights.
The NNPP is currently split into two factions: the camp loyal to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who became the presidential candidate after joining soon before the 2023 general elections, and the camp led by Agbo, which includes the party’s founding members.
The Agbo camp claims to have revoked the agreement that permitted Kwankwaso’s organisation, known as Kwankwasiya, to join the NNPP. Kwankwaso was expelled after being accused of attempting to takeover the party.
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Agbo declared that his life was in danger on Thursday while speaking at a news conference in Abuja.
The NNPP factional leader said that on Monday, assassins were sent to kill him in his office by “political opportunists trying to hijack the party’s leadership.”
Agbo described how two armed guys broke into his Wuse Zone 4 office and tried to kill him.
He revealed that he was spared death because the supposed assassins were unable to recognise him when they broke into the party faction’s secretariat.
“The purpose of this briefing is to update you on an attempt made to assassinate me here in this office on Monday, August 16, 2023,” said Agbo.
“I arrived at this location at around 2.45 pm, and immediately thereafter two males entered, disregarding the desk lads’ advice to follow protocol.
“They came in wanting to meet me with weapons drawn; they had no idea that they were speaking to me. They obviously didn’t know who I was physically, and the only thing that saved me was the fact that I wasn’t seated in my chair.
They asked that I present “Major Agbo,” whom one of them claimed was his classmate at Command and Staff College, Jaji, while brandishing a small rifle at me.
“When I asked him if he would recognise the classmate he was referring to if seen, he said “absolutely. I then informed them that Major Agbo was absent. They quickly withdrew, sped away in their ash-colored Toyota Corolla that was parked alongside the express road (to aid their escape).
We are all aware of the recent changes within the party as a result of some ill-advised individuals and political opportunists trying to take control of it.
Agbo claimed that he has been getting death threats in addition to the purported assassination attempt.
Let me also confirm to you that I have received threats via WhatsApp voice calls warning me that I would pay with my life if I obstructed their efforts to wrest control of the party from its founder and its parent organisation, NAGAFF (National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders).
On Monday, they followed through on their threat, but horribly failed because they were unable to locate me. The issue has been brought to the attention of the necessary parties.
“I sincerely hope you will join this bold attempt to take my life over something that is not theirs by lending your voices.
It is my desire that you will inform everyone in the world that my life is currently in danger due to usurpers who joined our party only a year ago and have not been a part of it for any of its 22 years.
