A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, has said the presidential candidate of the party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, was given permission by the party’s leadership to meet with President Bola Tinubu.

Galadima was reacting to the suspension of the party’s presidential candidate by a faction of NNPP.

On Tuesday, the NNPP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) led by the founder of the party, Boniface Aniebonam, suspended Kwankwaso over allegations of anti-party activities.

But a faction of the party loyal to the former Kano governor reversed the suspension.The faction also suspended Dr Agbo Major, the National Publicity Secretary of the party.

Kwankwaso has been photographed alongside President Bola Tinubu on a few occasions in recent times.

But speaking on Arise Television on Wednesday, Galadima said Kwankwaso’s suspension was not the decision of the NNPP because the person that spearheaded it, is not a member of the national caucus of the party.

“Let us establish one fact. Is Major Agbo speaking for himself or speaking for the BoT? Let us establish his own credentials first.

“I told you who the national exco of the party met in Abuja and I rolled out who have been here.

“Did Agbo tell you who, himself and who did meet in Lagos? Are they members of the party? And I also said that there is no locus. Do two people only make up a party? Which other member of the BoT was there in that their meeting?

“State chairmen that we expelled were the ones at that meeting. Preemptive, so, there is no even locus and he is not supposed to know because he is too small to know whether Kwankwaso took permission from the party or not to meet with other interest groups because he is not a member of the national caucus of the party. So, how can he know?

“Kwankwaso took permission from us when he was going to France. Thirteen members of the national caucus of the party met and he put down this issue that the president wanted to see him, what is our opinion?

“And each and everyone of us that was there except myself that did not speak on that day because I knew what led to that meeting.

“He came to inform us that the president invited him to see him and he could not go without taking a permission from the party.

“He (Kwankwaso) came back and told us that the president had asked him to tell his party that he would want to work with them.

“When we agree that we can work together then we will meet with the APC to do the modalities of working together,” he said.