At formation, the party was able to draw beyond it core base of former NPC members and attracted some First republic politicians such as Joseph Tarka, former leader of the United Middle Belt Congress, K.O.
The election of a southern Nigerian paved the way for the presidential candidate to go to the core base of the party: the Hausa-Fulani states.
To gain support among Igbo people, the party allowed the return of Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Biafra leader.
Moshood Abiola, a former member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), was not successful to hold chairmanship or presidential ticket of the NPN and later stood as the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the cancelled 1993 presidential election.
Adamu Ciroma, a former secretary of the NPN, later became a senior member of the People's Democratic Party.