NDC leader Dickson confirms appeal filing, says party won’t be sidelined

NDC leader Dickson confirms appeal filing, says party won’t be sidelined

National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the party’s senatorial candidate for Bayelsa West, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has thrown down the gauntlet, insisting that the NDC is here to stay and will fight any attempt to sideline it from the 2027 general elections.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page Tuesday , Dickson confirmed that the NDC has filed an appeal against a recent court ruling, alongside an application for a stay of execution and injunction.

The papers, he said, have been served with a covering letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its chairman, demanding they “do what is right according to law and what is legally sensible.”

Dickson declared that the NDC remains a fully registered political party that has complied with all legal requirements.

He stressed that nomination processes have been concluded, and candidates have legally emerged from primaries that were observed, monitored and recorded by INEC.

“What is left is the administrative process of submitting the names to INEC, and we have been granted access to the portal to upload our qualified candidates,” he wrote, adding that his own name and that of the party’s presidential candidate have already been uploaded, while the vice-presidential candidate’s name will follow upon completion of deposition.

Dickson dismissed any suggestion of panic, noting that the party is well within the INEC timetable to submit all National Assembly candidates by 11 July and gubernatorial and state assembly candidates by 17 July.

In a pointed warning to political opponents, he declared: “Our multi-party democracy must not die. We will not allow desperados and mercenaries parading as political leaders to destroy our hard-earned democracy.”

The former governor also issued a veiled challenge to the judiciary, saying, “Having filed and served our appeal and the accompanying applications, the ball is now in the court of the judiciary, and we expect the judiciary to do what is right under the law.”

 Dickson offered a note of gratitude to INEC Chairman Professor Joash Amupitan, praising his professionalism, particularly his role in registering the NDC and two other parties as directed by the court, as well as his stance in opposing efforts to deregister opposition parties.

Reconciliation efforts within the party are already underway, Dickson assured, promising that all aspirants who missed out on nominations would be carried along in campaigns, committees and party structures.