Senator Seriake Dickson, the National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has warned supporters of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to avoid denigrating and undermining the platform.
Speaking on Arise TV’s Prime Time program, Dickson denied allegations of an internal crisis, claiming that the party is doing the candidates a favor by giving them a platform, rather than the other way around.
Dickson addressed exuberant fans, emphasizing the party’s leadership’s essential sacrifices prior to the arrival of political heavyweights.
“The NDC leadership is intact, and there is no crisis whatsoever,” Dickson stated. “Peter Obi is a cherished member of our party.
“On our own, we have made him sole presidential candidate, and that counts for something. None of them were part of the formation when we were registering this party; they were not there.
“They didn’t pay one naira; no presidential candidate paid ‘shishi.’ You have to grant NDC some credit.
“Stop making it look like anyone is doing NDC a favor. No one is. Rather, the NDC and my colleagues are doing them [candidates] a favor by granting them our platform. You cannot be supporting Peter Obi, and you are disparaging me, the leader of the platform itself.”
Dickson also disputed charges that the NDC peddled nomination tickets to the highest bidders.
“The NDC doesn’t sell nomination tickets to people. “What we have done, because we are a self-funding party, is to have aspirants make contributions and donations to the party account, and it applies to all categories of aspirants, including the presidential aspirants.
“A presidential aspirant is to make a donation to the presidential campaign account, not to anybody; we gave our platform to them [aspirants] without discussing money,” he added.
Speaking on NASS and direct primaries, he said, “The NASS had no business prescribing mandatory direct primaries.
“The issue of the mode of primaries should be left for the party to decide. When you say direct primaries, most of those saying they have won are brandishing results; those results may not be the results the national body will recognize. They go to the field, people gather a crowd, and they declare themselves that they’ve won.
“That is why I talk about institutional capacity on the part of the regulator (INEC) and on the part of the political party.”
