WorldStage– The National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriake Dickson, has strongly criticized the activities of the Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement, describing its recent attempt to inaugurate a parallel presidential campaign structure as nonsensical and unheard of.
Dickson made these remarks in Abuja during an event welcoming the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, into the party.
According to party sources, the controversy erupted after the OK Movement—a prominent political support group backing the NDC’s presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso—unveiled its own independent 59-member Presidential Campaign Council (PCC).
Condemning the move, Senator Dickson maintained that political support groups have no constitutional or operational authority to set up campaign councils that compete with the sponsoring political party.
“Never in the history of the world have support groups set up a presidential campaign council. It’s unheard of and nonsensical,” Dickson asserted.
He emphasized that the primary responsibility of such groups is grassroots mobilization, rather than trying to usurp the administrative roles of the party or compete for organizational supremacy.
The former Bayelsa State governor noted that while the NDC values the support of grassroots organizations, it will not tolerate structures that undermine institutional party processes.
According to him, the formal NDC machinery is already preparing to inaugurate its official Presidential Campaign Council.
He clarified that the party’s candidates, Obi and Kwankwaso, would nominate key officers for the official council in direct consultation with the NDC leadership.
Dickson further admonished coordinators of various support groups to properly educate their members on their operational boundaries, stressing that the party is doing them a favor by offering its platform, rather than the other way around.
He pushed back against claims that the party relies solely on these groups, insisting that the NDC was built through rigorous efforts long before major opposition figures joined its fold.
In a swift counter-reaction, the OK Movement rejected Dickson’s characterization, stating that his position reflects an outdated understanding of contemporary political mobilization.
The group’s Director-General, John Ughulu, insisted that the movement remains an independent political organization with its own established leadership across the national, state, local government, and ward levels.
Ughulu declared that the movement would resist any attempts to absorb or dissolve its structures.
Despite this defiance, the NDC National Working Committee, backed by National Chairman Senator Moses Cleopas, has distanced the party from the unauthorized 59-member list, warning that no parallel campaign machinery will be condoned.
