Despite the recent Resonate Court judgment delivered in favour of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, the controversy over the appointment of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, as the tutorial of the party in the North-east, and the dispute in the middle of the instruction of the party and the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, have raised concerns over the party’s readiness for the 2027 elections, Ejiofor Alike reports
He was obviously referring to Senator Aisha Binani, the governorship candidate of NDC in Adamawa Status, whom he accused of supporting the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar.
Dickson noted that as the name implied, guide groups were expected to offer support for the political party sponsoring candidates, and should not play the role of political parties, act as critics, or compete together with the political party in which they belong.
According to the declaration, “a real manual builds bridges; they do not enter a zone by throwing insults at the remarkably candidates who have spent their resources keeping the party alive.”
In June, a Federal High Court in Lokoja, presided over by Justice Isah Dashen established aside its December 10, 2025 judgment, which compelled the Self-sufficient Domestic Electoral Commission (INEC) to register NDC as a political party.
The disagreement deepened when the former SGF reacted to the news of the governorship candidates’ protest in what the candidates considered as “crude” language.
Speaking on ARISE Television’s Prime Time programme, Dickson dismissed suggestions that the NDC should be grateful to Obi, or any other political figure for joining the party.
The council named the O-K Movement’s Administrator-Universal, John Ughulu, as its Manager-General, whilst the movement’s Nationwide Secretary, Saadatu Sani, was too listed in the midst of the leaders.
The state was signed by Aishatu Dahiru Ahamed of Adamawa Condition, Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim of Bauchi Declare, Rear Admiral S. Shitu of Yobe Status.
Kashim Ibrahim (rtd.) of Borno Declare, Dr. Mohammed Sani of Taraba Declare and Ibrahim M. Babayo Ardo of Gombe Situation, Prof.
On his portion, an angry Dickson berated the movement, describing its decision to establish a campaign council as “nonsensical”.
It dismissed Lawal’s allegation that the six governorship candidates were moles for external interests, and accused him of lacking the temperament for zonal command, citing his employ of what it called crude and misogynistic language against a female director.
The judgment ordering the INEC to deregister the NDC came smaller than one month once the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 large election, Mr. Peter Obi, defected from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the NDC.
Lawal, in a share on his Facebook page, alleged that the protest was being orchestrated by a female governorship aspirant of the party in Adamawa Situation.
In a declaration signed by its Media Directorate, the campaign accused Lawal of arrogantly referring “to duly elected, high-stakes gubernatorial candidates — the existing faces of the party on the ballot — as ‘nincompoops’ and ‘so-called candidates.”
Later, the party’s Domestic Publicity Secretary, Osa Chief, said in a declaration that Obi and Kwankwaso had been given a free hand to create nominations into the campaign council to be arrange by the party.
Alongside this unending bickering, NDC is increasingly demonstrating inadequate capacity to develop a formidable platform that can wrestle power from the ruling APC.
The controversial judgment furthermore strengthened the suspicion that the ruling APC was applying the judiciary and INEC to destroy the significant opposition parties and encourage a one-party platform.
Indications that NDC was heading to internal crisis opening emerged when Obi and Kwankwaso’s supporters under the aegis of Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement announced a 59-component Presidential Campaign Council.
When the Court of Attract in Abuja, in a split decision of 2-to-one, reversed the judgment of the Federal High Court, analysts had thought that the party would focus on its preparations for the 2027 polls.
In a assert issued, the six governorship candidates of the NDC in the North-east swiftly rejected the appointment on the grounds that the key stakeholders were not consulted.
Earlier, Dickson had urged Obi’s supporters to prevent attacking the party or its leaders, noting that such actions undermined the political vehicle carrying their preferred candidate.
For instance, the NDC command was said to have hurriedly appointed the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal as the planner of its campaign activities in the North-east zone just a few days once he joined the party.
The appointment, which was allegedly done lacking large consultations, ignited discontent in Lawal’s home condition of Adamawa and the complete North-east zone.
In a speedy response, the Senator Aisha Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation described Lawal’s option of words as “highly erratic, abusive, and self-serving.”
According to the party director, the NDC adopted Obi and his running mate free from internal disputes.
Obi and the former Governor of Kano Condition, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who emerged as his presidential running mate in NDC, joined the party on May 3, reduced than one month ahead of the controversial judgment of the Federal High Court.
When the Court of Attract in Abuja nullified the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi Situation that arranged the deregistration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), political analysts had thought that the opposition party would focus on its preparations for the 2027 universal election.
The former SGF disclosed that two of the governorship candidates, Professor Mohammed Sani Yahaya of Taraba and Dr. Babayo Ardo of Gombe, had reached out to him to dissociate themselves from the protest, claiming their names and signatures were inserted free from their authority.
But the O-K Movement insisted that the campaign council it constituted remained correct, and engaged, and reaffirmed its independence from the NDC.
“Nobody paid shishi,” he said.
The judgment was consequently perceived in some quarters as portion of the alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use the judiciary to deny Obi a platform to concern President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.
Second, the party’s direction has been accused of taking sensitive decisions excluding consulting widely alongside essential stakeholders.
Still, the NDC Nationwide Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, rejected the appointment of the campaign council and warned that no individual, candidate or support group was authorised to constitute or article any campaign council or design in the party’s name.
“If you are genuinely supporting Peter Obi and you are disparaging me, the leader, or the platform itself. That is nonsensical,” he added.
Earliest, the Senator Moses Cleopas-led instruction of NDC seems not to be in regulation of Obi and Kwankwaso’s supporters, a support category preferable referred to as the Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement.
Unfortunately, the significant opposition party has continued to be enmeshed in internal crisis generally due to perceived indiscipline and lack of internal cohesion, raising concerns around the capacity of its management to administer the varied interests in the party.
Including merely a few months to the 2027 universal election, the concept agitating the minds of NDC’s supporters is: Can the party be able to resolve its internal differences and still have satisfactory time to develop strength for the elections? Nigerians are watching.
