The National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriake Dickson, has dismissed recent criticisms directed at the party’s leadership by some supporters loyal to its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Tensions within the party escalated after the leadership issued a directive mandating that all campaign funds be routed strictly through official party structures, effectively placing independent mobilisation groups under central control.
The situation was further heightened following recent executive ratifications, particularly the appointment of Agada Abuh Theophilus as Director of New Media and Strategic Communications.
Appearing in a Wednesday night interview on Arise News, Dickson dismissed the insinuation that the party relies entirely on new entrants like Obi for its survival.
His words:
“I could have run. Listen to me, Charles. This is a narrative that has to be carefully managed before you people make others to feel bad.
“Before you guys make others to feel bad. Okay? There’s no one more qualified than me to run for president of Nigeria. None. You are talking of names because they have tried. Okay? And for some reasons, I did not want to. So don’t make it look like anyone is doing NDC a favour.”
Dickson emphasized that the party provided an vehicle for incoming politicians rather than the other way around.
“No one is. Rather, the NDC and I and my colleagues are doing people a favour by granting our platform to them. And that narrative is important. You cannot be supporting Peter Obi if you are genuinely supporting him, and you are disparaging me, the leader, or the platform itself. That is nonsensical. If it were easy for people to form a party, well form yours. If it were easy.”
Recall that roughly a month ago, Peter Obi and his vice-presidential counterpart, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, defected to the newly registered NDC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
While the party previously welcomed the Obidient and Kwankwasiyya movements as valuable mobilization networks, the national working committee’s latest insistence on institutional supremacy and fiscal control over these independent groups has created criticisms by some members of the blocs.