The National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has rejected claims that the party sold 69 nomination forms in Kano to Rabiu Kwankwaso, who is the vice presidential candidate for the Nigeria Democratic Congress in 2027.
Baba-Ahmed made this clear on Tuesday in an interview with ARISE Television. He said the report was "complete fiction" and did not reflect how the party operates.
"This is complete fiction. The real state chairman of the PRP in Kano already released a statement saying this is just complete bunkum," he stated.
The issue began after a self-proclaimed Chairman of the PRP in Kano state, Abdulkadir Musa-Guza, claimed that Kwankwaso or his associates had purchased forms for all 69 elective positions in Kano. Musa-Guza alleged that this was an attempt to take over the party structure ahead of the 2027 elections.
During a press briefing at the NUJ Press Centre in Kano, Musa-Guza accused the former Kano State governor of plotting against the party without showing any intention to join the PRP.
Baba-Ahmed said there is no chance that Kwankwaso bought 69 nomination forms from the PRP in Kano. He explained that the party sells nomination forms only from Abuja, not at the state level.
"There is no way former Governor Kwankwaso could have bought 69 forms from the PRP in Kano. We don’t sell forms in Kano; we sell forms from Abuja. The man who spoke and said they had sold 69 forms to Kwankwaso is not known to the party at all. He has no position; he has no authority to sell any forms. We don’t know him," Baba-Ahmed said.
He suggested that the claim might be politically driven.
"It is possible that this entire thing has been contrived as part of some problems or some politics in Kano. As far as the PRP is concerned, we sold forms, just like we sell to everybody else from Abuja. We sold forms to candidates from Kano. They registered, they contested, and they went through primaries more than a month ago.
"The candidates have emerged from there, and we are forwarding their names to INEC," he added.
Baba-Ahmed mentioned that even Kwankwaso found the claim surprising.
"I’ve spoken to Kwankwaso myself, and he is as amused as everybody else that he would buy 69 forms for non-existent candidates. He’s not a member of the party," he said.
The PRP chairman also talked about past discussions with Kwankwaso and NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi. He said they discussed joining the party but did not make any formal move.
"They came to our party. We spent some time discussing whether they could join the party. In the end, they decided there wasn’t enough evidence that their needs would be met by the party. And they moved on, and we parted as friends, and we’re still friends with them," he said.
On the topic of internal issues, Baba-Ahmed dismissed claims of factionalism within the PRP.
"The PRP has no faction. We came through a very difficult time where both from within and outside there were efforts to cripple us.
"The failure by INEC to upload our names after our successful convention, which INEC observed, for more than a month caused us problems. But we came through that. As I speak to you now, we’re a very healthy party.
"We’re looking forward to a very vigorous and transparent competition. We believe that our chances are bright and that the PRP will make a difference this time," he said.
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