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The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council announced by the Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement, saying the structure was not authorised by the party.
The party’s National Chairman, Senator Cleopas Moses, made the position known in a statement on Saturday, directing the public and the media to disregard the campaign council.
The development followed the unveiling of the 59-member council by the OK Movement on Thursday to mobilise support for NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, ahead of the 2027 election.
The structure included zonal and state coordinators, as well as directors responsible for mobilisation, women’s affairs, strategy, security, legal affairs and other areas.
John Ughulu, the movement’s Director-General, was named Director-General of the campaign council, while Saadatu Sani, the movement’s National Secretary, was named secretary. The council also included representatives from the six geopolitical zones, the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 states.
However, Moses said the campaign council did not originate from the NDC and insisted that only the party leadership could constitute and announce its Presidential Campaign Council.
“The party hereby dissociates itself in totality from the said OK Movement PCC announcement. It did not emanate from the party and should be disregarded by the public and the media,” he said.
The NDC chairman said candidates contesting on the party’s platform were subject to the authority and discipline of the party and could not operate as independent candidates.
“All candidates of the party must appreciate that they are not running as independent candidates,” Moses said.
“They are products of the party and remain subject to the authority and discipline of the party.
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“Therefore, only the party’s leadership can constitute and announce a Presidential Campaign Council.”
Moses further warned members, candidates and support groups against establishing campaign structures in the name of the party without approval from the National Working Committee (NWC).
“Henceforth, no individual or group is authorised to announce, constitute, or publish any campaign council, structure, or organ in the name of the party without prior approval from the National Working Committee (NWC),” he said.
The party acknowledged the role of support groups in its political activities but cautioned them against presenting themselves as alternative or parallel structures.
“While the party will continue to work collaboratively with all support groups, such groups should not see themselves as alternative party structures or parallel organs of the party,” Moses said.
He also urged members and support groups with grievances to use the party’s internal mechanisms rather than making public statements or attacks.
The NDC chairman said Ughulu would be referred to the appropriate disciplinary organ over what he described as his “excesses during the primary election in Lagos State” and “repeated disregard for party authority.”
The OK Movement had presented the 59-member structure as a nationwide mobilisation platform for the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket. Its National Secretary, Saadatu Sani, said the movement was focused on mobilising Nigerians around the possibility of a “better, more prosperous, united and functional Nigeria.”
The latest development has brought into focus the distinction between the support group’s campaign structure and the formal campaign machinery that the NDC says can only be constituted by its leadership.
