NDC denies a Dickson APC deal, saying Seriake Dickson is not working with the ruling party to undermine Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso
The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, has rejected allegations that its National Leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, has a secret deal with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to undermine the party’s 2027 presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Also read: INEC Announces 103m Voters Ahead of 2027 Elections
The party made the clarification on Monday, October 5, 2026, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, describing the allegations as unfounded and insisting that Dickson was not acting as an APC proxy within the opposition party.
The statement came amid claims circulating in political circles that Dickson could be working with the ruling party against the NDC’s presidential campaign.
The NDC said it would ordinarily have ignored what it described as “beer-parlour talk and murmurs”, but chose to respond because repeated allegations could eventually be accepted as fact if left unchallenged.
“Our National Leader, Distinguished Senator Seriake Dickson, is not a front for the ruling APC or anyone else. He has no secret or open deal whatsoever with the ruinous and diabolical APC regime,” the party said.
The NDC also rejected suggestions that Dickson was attempting to undermine Obi and Kwankwaso, who emerged as the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the 2027 election.
“Anyone who knows Senator Dickson’s public service record, and is in his right senses, will not associate him with any under-the-table arrangement to sabotage his own party and its Presidential Candidate and running mate, Mr. Peter Obi and Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso,” the statement added.
Dickson’s public activities within the NDC in recent months have included meetings with both Obi and Kwankwaso as the party prepared for the 2027 campaign.
In August, Dickson disclosed that he had met Obi, Kwankwaso and other NDC leaders in Abuja to discuss party matters and finalise preparations for the unveiling of the Presidential Campaign Council.
He also called on members and stakeholders to close ranks and work together for the party’s candidates.
The meetings followed the formal entry of Obi and Kwankwaso into the NDC in May after both politicians left the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
The development brought the two prominent opposition figures onto the platform founded by Dickson and other political actors ahead of the 2027 elections.
The NDC subsequently ratified Obi as its presidential candidate, while Kwankwaso became his running mate.
The party also adopted a single four-year presidential term for the 2027 ticket, with the presidency to be zoned to Northern Nigeria in 2031 under the arrangement announced by the party.
Dickson, a former Bayelsa State governor and serving senator representing Bayelsa West, has been a central figure in the party’s development.
He served as Bayelsa governor from 2012 to 2020 before returning to the Senate in 2020.
The former governor also played a visible role during the NDC’s convention in May, appearing alongside Obi and Kwankwaso as the party formalised its 2027 presidential ticket.
The latest denial comes at a sensitive stage in the opposition party’s preparations for the 2027 election, with internal disagreements over campaign structures and party organisation already surfacing.
In September, the NDC authorised Obi and Kwankwaso to nominate members of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council following disagreements with members of the Obi-Kwankwaso, OK, Movement over the composition of the campaign structure.
The party’s latest statement maintained that Dickson remains committed to building the NDC and supporting its presidential ticket.
The NDC said Dickson could have chosen to join the APC but instead opted to remain with the opposition platform and help build what it described as a new political alternative.
It urged its members and supporters to disregard the allegations and remain focused on the 2027 election and the party’s candidates.
Also read: INEC Announces 103m Voters Ahead of 2027 Elections
The allegation of a Dickson APC deal has not been independently established in the sources reviewed, while the NDC has publicly and unequivocally denied that any such arrangement exists.
