With the unveiling of the national campaign council of the Nigeria Democratic Party (NDC) for the 2027 election on Sunday, October 25, the die is cast for the party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
By Emeka Alex Duru
With the unveiling of the national campaign council of the Nigeria Democratic Party (NDC) for the 2027 election on Sunday, October 25, the die is cast for the party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The list has Senator Seriake Dickson, former Bayelsa governor, as the chairman, while Obi and vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, were listed as co-chairman and co-vice chairman of the national campaign council, respectively.
Others in the council, are the national chairman, Cleopas Zuwoghe as vice chairman, and former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal (National Campaign Advisory Council), as a member. Also on the list are Ikenna Enekweizu, Sidi Abdul, Babatunde Alli, Senator Ovie Omo Agege, Senator Victor Umeh, Ibrahim Abdulkarim (DG, Presidential Campaign), Buba Galadima, Yakubu Ochefu, Mahmud Jahun, Moshood Salvador, Mrs. Dudu Manuga, Victor Ogene, and Muktar Usman.
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The list also has a 40-member national campaign advisory council and 37 state campaign coordinators. The NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, was named Director of Communication and Media. A former defence spokesperson, Major General John Enenche (retd.), was named Director of Security and Intelligence.
The party, in a statement announcing the campaign council on its X handle, said, “The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) is pleased to announce the constitution of its National Campaign Council for the 2027 general elections. The National Campaign Council will provide strategic leadership, coordinate campaign activities across the country, and drive the mobilisation of Nigerians behind the party’s vision of a new, just, and prosperous Nigeria”. It called on members, supporters, and well-meaning Nigerians to remain united and focused as it works to rescue the country.
The campaign council is long in coming and carries along mountains of expectations on Obi and the NDC. For the flag bearer in particular, there is nothing further holding him from unleashing on Nigerians a wave of templates and proclamations that would position his party as the credible alternative to the uncertain programmes and policy initiatives of the current All progressives Congress (APC) – led Bola Tinubu administration. The remaining two months to the January 16, 2027 presidential election should be devoted to convincing Nigerians on why they should vote the NDC and its candidate instead of the APC and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Doing this would require rising beyond the contemporary trends in name-calling and shadow-boxing which Tinubu government officials have reduced campaigns to and addressing issues that have direct impacts on the state and the people. In other words, Obi and the NDC need to tell Nigerians how they intend to confront the challenges plaguing the country. These are issues of hunger, poverty, insecurity, division in the polity and rising unemployment among the youths.
To be sure, the statistics on these conditions, are scary. Estimates of Nigeria’s poverty indexes by both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) are staggering. According to the IMF, 63%, or over 140 million Nigerians, live at or below the national poverty line, while humanitarian agencies estimate that 35 million people will need food assistance during the 2026 lean season. About 3.6 million Nigerians remain internally displaced, largely because of conflict and insecurity. In a related pathetic picture, figures from the NBS, indicated that 40.1% of Nigeria’s population lived below the national absolute poverty line, meaning about 82.9 million Nigerians were classified as poor.
The situation is worsened by weak infrastructure, unreliable power, insecurity, and the excessive cost of doing business which continue to mount pressure on households and constrain enterprise. In addition, insecurity has displaced millions of Nigerians and continues to disrupt agriculture, education, trade, and investment. Hardly does a day pass without Nigerians being killed or taken into captivity by terrorists and other marauding gangs. The situation is obviously dire and uncertain.
On Saturday, October 24, when President Tinubu flagged off his reelection campaign in Kaduna, he literally glossed over the issues and busied himself with phantom promises of prosperity to Nigerians. This is not what the people want to hear at the moment. They are rather hungry and need to be assured that their condition will be bettered in the months ahead. Obi and NDC should just do that. They need to ask Nigerians: “Are you better off under the present government”? But in doing so, they should go beyond rhetoric. In politics, surprise is a veritable factor. One major advantage going for the party in its campaign council is that it is not suffocated with politicians of extreme integrity deficit and recycled profile. It may be argued that some of the names in the list are largely unknown and do not ring bells. But that is where the advantage of surprise comes in. NDC will easily appeal to the voters with fresh names and faces than assault them with known treasury looters.
At the stage the campaigns have reached, Obi does no longer have room for niceties and “good boy” carriage. He does not necessarily need being vulgar or going to the gutters but to present issues as they are. The gloves need to be taken off at this point. The country is presently on its fours, truth be told. Let the message be delivered to the people on why Nigeria needs a change through the ballot next year.
For now, the election is for Obi and his NDC to lose. Tinubu’s APC has failed in all departments of leadership, proving the point of merely grabbing power for the fun of it and not knowing what to do with it. Obi and NDC should seize the momentum and fill the gap. Nature abhors vacuum.
