A fresh disagreement has emerged within the opposition Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) over the authority to organise the campaign machinery for its 2027 presidential ticket, with the Obidient-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement insisting that its activities do not require the approval of the party leadership.
The dispute followed the unveiling of a 59-member presidential campaign council by the movement and the subsequent rejection of the council by the NDC national chairman, Cleopas Moses.
While the party maintains that only its leadership has the authority to constitute and announce a presidential campaign council, the OK Movement argues that it is an independent political organisation and is entitled to organise its activities in accordance with its own structures and processes.
The disagreement comes at a sensitive stage in the development of the opposition alliance backing Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso as the NDC's presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the 2027 election.
The OK Movement announced the campaign council on Thursday, naming John Ughulu as its national director-general and Saadatu Sani as national secretary.
But the initiative was quickly disowned by the NDC leadership.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Moses said the purported presidential campaign council did not represent the party and urged members of the public to disregard it.
The NDC chairman said the party's candidates remained subject to its authority and discipline, stressing that the power to constitute and announce a presidential campaign council rested with the party leadership.
That position, however, has not been accepted by the OK Movement.
Responding on Sunday, Sani, the movement's national secretary, accused the NDC chairman of making assertions without adequate reference to the party's constitution.
She said the movement recognised the authority of political parties within the constitutional and statutory framework but maintained that the OK Movement itself was not a structure of the NDC.
“The OK Movement does not require the personal validation or approval of any individual before exercising its legitimate organisational functions in accordance with established processes,” Sani said.
The disagreement highlights a potential structural tension within the opposition alliance: while the NDC is the formal political platform through which Obi and Kwankwaso are contesting, the political movements backing the ticket have their own identities, leadership structures and grassroots networks.
For the OK Movement, supporting the NDC candidates does not translate into becoming an appendage of the party.
Sani said the movement would continue to campaign for Obi and Kwankwaso and would also support other NDC candidates in areas where its members had resolved to do so.
She said the organisation was created from the grassroots and was not dependent on any individual or political office holder for its activities.
The movement, she added, was not seeking appointments or positions within the NDC in return for its political support.
Instead, she said, its activities were based on principles that include political independence, accountability and a long-term commitment to changing Nigeria's political system.
Sani claimed that the movement had built a nationwide grassroots structure with internal membership records showing approximately 2.5 million registered members and coordinators.
“We speak for Nigerians who are demanding a better political system, economic opportunity, accountability and a government that places citizens at the centre,” she said.
The claim underscores the political weight the movement seeks to establish within the broader opposition project.
Rather than presenting itself as an election-specific campaign organisation, the OK Movement says it intends to remain a long-term political platform with a defined philosophy and organisational structure.
That distinction is at the heart of the current disagreement.
For the NDC, the issue appears to centre on control and coordination of the campaign structures of its presidential candidates. For the OK Movement, it is a question of organisational independence and the right of a supporting movement to conduct its own affairs.
The dispute has also spilled into questions surrounding Ughulu, who was appointed director-general of the campaign council.
Sani addressed allegations concerning his alleged involvement in the Lagos State primaries, saying the matter required clarification.
She said the movement would defend its members when their integrity was called into question, while insisting that it would not engage in personal attacks or defamatory exchanges.
She consequently demanded that Moses withdraw statements considered defamatory and apologise to both the movement and Ughulu.
“The OK Movement will not compromise its standards. The OK Movement will not surrender its independence. The OK Movement will not be intimidated,” she said.
The exchange comes against the backdrop of an opposition coalition still defining its structures ahead of the 2027 elections.
The alliance that produced the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket brought together political actors and grassroots organisations with different histories and organisational arrangements. Managing those structures alongside the formal authority of the NDC is likely to remain an important part of the coalition's internal politics.
For now, the OK Movement's position is that its decision to establish a campaign council was an internal organisational matter and did not require the personal endorsement of the NDC chairman.
The party leadership, however, has publicly taken a different position, setting the stage for further discussions over where party authority ends and the autonomy of allied political movements begins.
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