KEY POINTS
- Dickson urged NDC members to avoid infighting and focus on strengthening the party for 2027.
- He acknowledged irregularities in the primaries, blaming the compressed timetable and mandatory direct primaries.
- The party set up a reconciliation committee and reaffirmed the Obi-Kwankwaso presidential ticket.
The national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Senator Seriake Dickson, has urged party members and supporters to avoid internal disputes and focus on strengthening the party ahead of the 2027 general election. He made the appeal in a statement on Thursday after his interview on ARISE TV, where he addressed concerns over alleged irregularities in the party’s recently concluded primaries.
Acknowledging the primary problems
The former Bayelsa State governor admitted that some aspirants felt dissatisfied with aspects of the exercise, yet he urged them to stay committed as the party manages rapid growth and a compressed electoral timetable. “I urged all of them to bear with the party in view of the circumstances we are managing, which have overwhelmed even bigger parties,” he said.
According to Dickson, the NDC, which is barely four months old, had to conduct membership registration, congresses, conventions, primaries and appeals within a very short period. Moreover, he traced some of the difficulties to the Electoral Act’s mandatory direct primaries. “The APC-led majority were wrong in foisting compulsory direct primaries on political parties and the country,” he said. Furthermore, he argued that complaints about irregularities were not unique to the NDC, since similar concerns surfaced in other parties.
A call for unity and reconciliation
Dickson also urged members to disregard unofficial results circulating online, insisting that the party had announced no winners. “The public should disregard any such claims in circulation, especially on social media, and await the party’s formal submissions through the appropriate channels,” he said.
Furthermore, he disclosed that the party’s National Executive Committee had approved a reconciliation committee to address grievances from the primaries. Notably, he promised that future contests would improve. “This is our first set of primaries, and it will also be the last to be conducted manually. The next primaries will be technologically driven and will have none of these issues,” he said.
Consequently, Dickson stressed the need for unity and urged supporters to rally behind every NDC candidate, from the presidency to the least elective office. Ultimately, he reaffirmed his support for the party’s presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, describing the pair as partners in a collective project that demands cooperation and discipline to succeed in 2027.
