As NDC, O-K Movement’s Feud Deepens

Despite the recent Appeal Court judgment delivered in favour of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, the controversy over the appointment of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, as the leader of the party in the North-east, and the dispute between the leadership of the party and the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, have raised concerns over the party’s readiness for the 2027 elections, Ejiofor Alike reports

When the Court of Appeal in Abuja nullified the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State that ordered the deregistration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), political analysts had thought that the opposition party would focus on its preparations for the 2027 general election.

In June, a Federal High Court in Lokoja, presided over by Justice Isah Dashen set aside its December 10, 2025 judgment, which compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register NDC as a political party.

The judgment ordering the INEC to deregister the NDC came less than one month after the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, defected from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the NDC.

The judgment was therefore perceived in some quarters as part of the alleged plot by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to use the judiciary to deny Obi a platform to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

The controversial judgment also strengthened the suspicion that the ruling APC was using the judiciary and INEC to destroy the major opposition parties and promote a one-party system.

Obi and the former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who emerged as his presidential running mate in NDC, joined the party on May 3, less than one month before the controversial judgment of the Federal High Court.

When the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in a split decision of 2-to-one, reversed the judgment of the Federal High Court, analysts had thought that the party would focus on its preparations for the 2027 polls.

Unfortunately, the major opposition party has continued to be enmeshed in internal crisis largely due to perceived indiscipline and lack of internal cohesion, raising concerns about the capacity of its leadership to manage the diverse interests in the party.

First, the Senator Moses Cleopas-led leadership of NDC seems not to be in control of Obi and Kwankwaso’s supporters, a support group better referred to as the Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement.

Second, the party’s leadership has been accused of taking sensitive decisions without consulting widely with critical stakeholders.

For instance, the NDC leadership was said to have hurriedly appointed the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal as the coordinator of its campaign activities in the North-east zone just a few days after he joined the party.

The appointment, which was allegedly done without wide consultations, ignited discontent in Lawal’s home state of Adamawa and the entire North-east zone.

In a statement issued, the six governorship candidates of the NDC in the North-east swiftly rejected the appointment on the grounds that the key stakeholders were not consulted.

The statement was signed by Aishatu Dahiru Ahamed of Adamawa State, Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim of Bauchi State, Rear Admiral S. Kashim Ibrahim (rtd.) of Borno State, Dr. Babayo Ardo of Gombe State, Prof. Mohammed Sani of Taraba State and Ibrahim M. Shitu of Yobe State.

The disagreement deepened when the former SGF reacted to the news of the governorship candidates’ protest in what the candidates considered as “crude” language.

Lawal, in a post on his Facebook page, alleged that the protest was being orchestrated by a female governorship aspirant of the party in Adamawa State.

He was obviously referring to Senator Aisha Binani, the governorship candidate of NDC in Adamawa State, whom he accused of supporting the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar.

The former SGF disclosed that two of the governorship candidates, Professor Mohammed Sani Yahaya of Taraba and Dr. Babayo Ardo of Gombe, had reached out to him to dissociate themselves from the protest, claiming their names and signatures were inserted without their authority.

In a swift response, the Senator Aisha Gubernatorial Campaign Organisation described Lawal’s choice of words as “highly erratic, abusive, and self-serving.”

In a statement signed by its Media Directorate, the campaign accused Lawal of arrogantly referring “to duly elected, high-stakes gubernatorial candidates — the actual faces of the party on the ballot — as ‘nincompoops’ and ‘so-called candidates.”

According to the statement, “a true leader builds bridges; they do not enter a zone by throwing insults at the very candidates who have spent their resources keeping the party alive.”

It dismissed Lawal’s allegation that the six governorship candidates were moles for external interests, and accused him of lacking the temperament for zonal leadership, citing his use of what it called crude and misogynistic language against a female leader.

Indications that NDC was heading to internal crisis first emerged when Obi and Kwankwaso’s supporters under the aegis of Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement announced a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council.

The council named the O-K Movement’s Director-General, John Ughulu, as its Director-General, while the movement’s National Secretary, Saadatu Sani, was also listed among the leaders.

However, the NDC National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, rejected the appointment of the campaign council and warned that no individual, candidate or support group was authorised to constitute or announce any campaign council or structure in the party’s name.

Later, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said in a statement that Obi and Kwankwaso had been given a free hand to make nominations into the campaign council to be set up by the party.

But the O-K Movement insisted that the campaign council it constituted remained valid, and operational, and reaffirmed its independence from the NDC.

On his part, an angry Dickson berated the movement, describing its decision to set up a campaign council as “nonsensical”.

Dickson noted that as the name implied, support groups were expected to provide support for the political party sponsoring candidates, and should not play the role of political parties, act as critics, or compete with the political party in which they belong.

Earlier, Dickson had urged Obi’s supporters to stop attacking the party or its leaders, noting that such actions undermined the political vehicle carrying their preferred candidate.

Speaking on ARISE Television’s Prime Time programme, Dickson dismissed suggestions that the NDC should be grateful to Obi, or any other political figure for joining the party.

“If you are genuinely supporting Peter Obi and you are disparaging me, the leader, or the platform itself. That is nonsensical,” he added.

According to the party leader, the NDC adopted Obi and his running mate without internal disputes.

“Nobody paid shishi,” he said.

With this unending bickering, NDC is increasingly demonstrating inadequate capacity to build a formidable platform that can wrestle power from the ruling APC.

With only a few months to the 2027 general election, the question agitating the minds of NDC’s supporters is: Can the party be able to resolve its internal differences and still have sufficient time to build strength for the elections? Nigerians are watching.