The Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso Movement has criticized the Nigeria Democratic Congress for unveiling its National Campaign Council, raising doubts about the party’s readiness for the 2027 general elections and asserting that it possesses a stronger grassroots structure.
John Ughulu, the Director-General of the OK Movement, said the NDC had taken too long to put its campaign machinery in place, cautioning that political ambition without effective grassroots mobilization and coordination would not ensure electoral victory.
He made this known on Monday in a statement released to journalists in Abuja, one day after the NDC announced the members of its campaign council ahead of its inauguration in the Federal Capital Territory.
The politician contended that the movement had already completed the necessary groundwork while others were only just starting to organize and predicted that some of those appointed to the council might in time seek its support and mobilization network.
He said, “The funny part of this list is that 90 percent of the people on it will still come knocking on the doors of the OK Movement to beg for the very structure they have failed to build themselves!”
Ughulu added, “With less than three months to the general elections, they are only just announcing their Presidential Campaign Council. What exactly have they been doing all this time? Where is the structure? Where is the strategy? Where is the machinery required to prosecute a serious national election?”
The criticism arises as the NDC and the OK Movement become increasingly at odds over the latter’s organizational independence and its role in the campaign for the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
On Sunday, the NDC appointed its National Leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, as chairman of its National Campaign Council, with Obi named co-chairman.
Senator Cleopas Moses Zuwoghe, the party’s National Chairman, was appointed vice-chairman, while Kwankwaso will act as co-vice-chairman.
Among the other appointees are former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, as chairman of the National Advisory Council; former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; former presidential candidate, Pat Utomi; and Buba Galadima, former National Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change.
Ikenna Enekweizu, the NDC National Secretary, was named council secretary, and Ibrahim Abdulkarim will serve as director-general.
Ughulu and the OK Movement’s state, local government, and ward coordinators, however, were left out of the appointments.
The omission follows a dispute over the movement’s decision to set up its own presidential campaign council, which Dickson called “unheard of” and “nonsensical.”
The former Bayelsa State governor had contended that support groups should complement political parties instead of competing with them or running parallel structures.
At the unveiling of Lawal in Abuja last month, Dickson stated that the NDC would cooperate with support groups but expected them to operate within their proper roles.
Ughulu, however, maintained that the OK Movement is an independent political organization rather than a mere conventional support group and that it would not hand over its national, state, local government, and ward structures to the NDC or any other organization.
In his latest statement, the OK Movement director-general contended that elections are won through sustained grassroots mobilization, strategic planning, and effective coordination, not through big names on campaign councils.
“Elections are not won by titles, press releases, political noise, or the number of big names on a campaign council. Elections are won through grassroots mobilization, effective coordination, strategic planning, committed people, and a well-established structure that reaches every polling unit,” he said.
The politician asserted that the movement had acknowledged the importance of grassroots organization well before the electioneering season and was better prepared to mobilize voters.
“We did not wait for the election to approach before recognizing the importance of grassroots organization. We understood from the beginning that a presidential ambition without a functional grassroots structure is nothing more than a political wish!” Ughulu added.
He further cautioned that, as the elections drew nearer, political leaders who had spoken out against the movement might eventually find themselves in need of its network and organizational capacity. ↻
“But the question is, will they respect the structure they are now coming to depend on?” he asked.
The NDC is set to inaugurate its National Campaign Council and officially open its newly acquired national secretariat in Abuja on Monday.
As part of the events marking its third National Executive Committee meeting, the party will also present Certificates of Return to its candidates for the presidential, governorship, National Assembly, and state Houses of Assembly elections.
A dinner is expected to follow the program.
Ughulu insisted that the OK Movement would not become a merely ceremonial support group, stressing that its strength lay in its organizational capacity and its commitment to the Obi-Kwankwaso political project.
“Leadership is not about who makes the loudest noise. Leadership is about who prepares, organizes, builds, and delivers when it matters most,” he said.
He concluded, “The OK Movement is ready. The question is, are they? Nigeria will be OK.”
