NDC Crisis Deepens as OK Movement Slams Campaign Council List

NDC Crisis Deepens as OK Movement Slams Campaign Council List

​ABUJA — Cracks within the National Democratic Corporation (NDC) have blown wide open as the influential OK Movement—the grassroots political machinery backing Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso—vehemently rejected the newly unveiled Presidential Campaign Council headed by the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson.

​In a scathing public statement issued on Monday, the Director-General of the OK Movement, John Ughulu, lambasted the party leadership for sidelining the movement, warning that the exclusion severely undermines the electoral prospects of the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket ahead of the fast-approaching general elections.

​A Late Awakening and Lacking Machinery?

​The OK Movement’s tirade zeroes in on the sluggish pace of the party’s mobilization efforts, questioning the competence and readiness of the NDC hierarchy as the electoral clock ticks down.

​“With less than three months to the general elections, they are only just announcing their Presidential Campaign Council,” Ughulu stated. “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 Director-General scoffed at the composition of the campaign list, claiming that a vast majority of the heavy-hitters named on the roster lack actual grassroots footprints and will ultimately rely on the groundwork already laid by the movement.

​“The funny part of this list is that 90 per cent 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!” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

​Grassroots vs. Political Noise

​Weighing in on the mechanics of modern political contests, Ughulu stressed that titles and big-name endorsements are insufficient substitutes for genuine on-the-ground mobilization.

• ​Substance Over Titles: “Elections are not won by titles, press releases, political noise, or the number of big names on a campaign council,” Ughulu maintained. “Elections are won through grassroots mobilisation, effective coordination, strategic planning, committed people, and a well-established structure that reaches every polling unit.”
• ​Proactive Organizing: Highlighting the foresight of the Obi-Kwankwaso support base, he noted that the movement did not wait for the eleventh hour to organize. “We understood from the beginning that a presidential ambition without a functional grassroots structure is nothing more than a political wish!”

​A Brewing Pre-Election Showdown

​This latest friction follows weeks of simmering underlying tensions between the NDC leadership and independent support groups over campaign autonomy and structure coordination. While the party attempts to consolidate its forces following its recent National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings and secretariat launches in Abuja, the public rebuke from its core vanguard signals a rocky path ahead.

​Ughulu ended with a sharp warning to the party hierarchy: “Let those who are only just waking up to the realities of election preparation learn from the difference between having political ambition and possessing the capacity to execute it. The OK Movement is ready. The question is: are they?”