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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Ahead of the 2027 polls, a community leader and sympathiser of the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, Iliya Abdullahi, has warned that perceived injustice in the governorship ticket and the intimidation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) might work against the party.
Iliya claimed that the NDC and Obi had succumbed to an ambush laid by the APC against them in Plateau State.
He alleged that Governor Caleb Muftwang and his Yari-led ethnic clique had designed a complex web of intrigue to blackmail and cajole all major opposition political parties into fielding their governorship candidates from the Mwaghavul ethnic area.
Iliya, who addressed journalists at the weekend, also alleged that prominent political leaders in the APC were involved in the plot to ensure that voters in the state were restricted to choices within the Mutfwang collective of the Mwaghavul ethnic group. He regretted that the NDC and Peter Obi had allowed themselves to be dragged into the undemocratic net by the NDC state chairman, Solomon Yakubu Ndam.
A close associate of Peter Obi, who pleaded anonymity, told reporters in Abuja that, contrary to claims that Obi was backing Alfred Ali Dapal, who lost out during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary in May 2026, for the NDC governorship ticket, Obi had no hand in the matter.
He stated that, as a matter of principle, Obi does not meddle in the affairs of state chapters, pointing out that in similar situations in Akwa Ibom, Delta and even Obi’s home state of Anambra, the NDC presidential candidate refrained from direct intervention.
“But it is hard to stop politicians from name-dropping for influence peddling to achieve their narrow designs,” he stated, adding that Obi believes there is no political disagreement that the rule of law and due process cannot resolve.
However, Iliya stated that the NDC leaders had not made enough public statements to show that they were upholding the rule of law or due process, stressing that the attempt to deny the sole nominee of the party, Da Jonathan Akuns, his unopposed right to the ticket gave room for unnecessary speculation of official complicity.
He declared: “Peter Obi should know that the assurances by APC leaders in Plateau State to support his presidential election in exchange for NDC support for the APC in the governorship is a fat lie and a calculated scheme to deceive.
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“Tell me, how can a party that is serious about rescuing Nigeria decide to trade off its candidate for a meddlesome interloper whose name was not in the NDC membership register? We know that Dapal is the lackey of some entrenched interests in the APC, but how the facts of his jobbery are lost on NDC leaders is mind-boggling.
“Where on earth has it been seen that a political party hands a certificate of return to two candidates, including a known stranger to its structure? Is it not a well-known fact that only the National Working Committee of a party conducts governorship primaries for a general election? Why is the NDC upholding double standards in Plateau State?”
Iliya remarked that the injustice in Plateau State over the NDC governorship ticket was dampening the enthusiasm of the electorate and setting the stage for massive voter apathy that would serve the purpose of the ruling party.
He pointed to the internal conspiracy within the state, saying that the Mutfwang ethnic Mwaghavuls wanted to dominate the polity and reinforce the current failure in the state by imposing unserious candidates or causing crises in the major opposition parties.
He alleged that the APC operated a tacit governorship franchise in six political parties in the state, including the APC, while the seventh franchise was under a rainbow coalition that involved the PDP.
“It was in line with this capturing of the political platforms that Dapal was sent to the NDC to distract the serious contention of Akuns, who stands out as the credible alternative with statewide acceptability in the NDC.
“Dapal was sent to foul the waters in the NDC mainly because Akuns and Kefas are from major ethnic groups in the central senatorial district of Plateau State. Considering that the PDP gubernatorial ticket of Kefas is already melded into an APC rainbow coalition, displacing Akuns becomes the major project.
“Of course, knowing that Dapal never bought the governorship nomination forms, and was neither screened nor shortlisted for the NDC gubernatorial primary election, the ruling party is not sparing cost in its attempt to dispossess Akuns of the NDC governorship ticket through the judiciary.
“While the NDC and Peter Obi are sleepwalking through this well-oiled conspiracy, the ruling party rejoices in the assured possibility of a smooth re-election in the 2027 election,” Comrade Iliya explained.
The crisis in the Plateau State chapter of the NDC continues to stick out like a sore thumb ever since the state chairman, Ndam, constituted himself into a rival authority to the party’s NWC and conducted a parallel substitution primary in the state.
