OK Movement faults NDC campaign council

Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential flagbearers

The OK Movement has faulted the National Campaign Council’s list for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), arguing that most of the individuals on it lack the grassroots support needed to win a national election.

The OK (short for Obi-Kwankwaso) Movement is one of the independent groups mobilising support for the 2027 NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the NDC unveiled the 155-member campaign council on Sunday night.

The NDC National Leader, Seriake Dickson, was named chairman, while its presidential candidate, Mr Obi, will serve as co-chairman.

The NDC also appointed its National Chairman, Cleopas Zuwoghe, as vice-chairman, and its vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, as co-vice chairman.

Mr Obi’s ally and an ICT strategist, Ibrahim Abdulkarim, was appointed director-general, while Ikenna Enekweizu, the party’s national secretary, will serve as council secretary.

But in a statement on Monday, OK Movement Director-General John Ughulu said that announcing the list less than three months before the general election suggested the NDC was not ready for the 2027 poll.

“With less than three months to the general elections, they are only just announcing their Presidential Campaign Council.

“What exactly have they been doing all this time? Where is the structure? Where is the strategy? Where is the machinery required to prosecute a serious national election?” Mr Ughulu said.

“You cannot spend years talking about winning an election and challenging the organisational campaign structure of the most formidable movement in Nigeria and wait until a few months before the polls to begin to organise for victory,” he added.

The director-general also claimed that unlike the NDC, the movement had prioritised grassroots organisation ahead of the election.

“Elections are not won by titles, press releases, political noise, or the number of big names on a campaign council.

“Elections are won through grassroots mobilisation, effective coordination, strategic planning, committed people, and a well-established structure that reaches every polling unit,” he stated.

Mr Ughulu contended that many NDC campaign council members may eventually seek the group’s support and organisational network to mobilise voters.

“The OK Movement is not a political decoration, a temporary support group, or an organisation that exists merely to applaud political leaders.

“We are a movement built on principles, driven by purpose, and determined to demonstrate what serious political organisation should look like,” he said.

“Let those who are only just waking up to the realities of election preparation learn from the difference between having political ambition and possessing the capacity to execute it.”

Dispute over movement’s disowned council

The NDC leadership and members of the OK Movement recently clashed over the support group’s decision to set up a separate campaign council in September.

The NDC disowned the support group, saying the party would unveil its own campaign council.

In the Monday statement, Mr Ughulu maintained that the movement had invested in grassroots organisation ahead of the election and that its approach was based on the need to establish a functional structure before the campaign period.

“We did not wait for the election to approach before recognising the importance of grassroots organisation.

“We understood from the beginning that a presidential ambition without a functional grassroots structure is nothing more than a political wish,” he said.

The director-general stressed that the OK Movement had completed the groundwork necessary for its operations and argued that the movement was better equipped to deliver electoral victory in 2027.

“The OK Movement is ready. The question is: are they?” he said of the NDC campaign council list.

Until now, the NDC leadership and members of the OK Movement have been at odds over setting up the campaign council for the 2027 election.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that, on 17 September, the OK Movement constituted a 59-member campaign council to mobilise support for Messrs Obi and Kwankwaso ahead of the 2027 election.

The support group said the campaign council would operate independently of a similar council the NDC plans to inaugurate.

But the NDC disowned the support group, saying it would later unveil its campaign council for the 2027 election.

It warned the support group that their action could destabilise the party.

However, the support group rejected the NDC’s position, insisting it does not need any individual in the party to validate or approve it to exercise its legitimate organisational functions under established processes.

Earlier this month, the OK Movement reversed its position, saying the support group did not follow due process in creating the disowned campaign council.