NDC campaign chief Ibrahim Abdulkarim urges Atiku to join the Obi-Kwankwaso alliance ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election
The Director-General of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) Presidential Campaign Council, Ibrahim Abdulkarim, has called on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and other opposition leaders to join the alliance backing Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election.
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Abdulkarim said opposition parties and political figures needed to unite behind a common platform to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the polls.
Speaking on Arise News, he said the proposed coalition was taking shape within the NDC, with Obi emerging as its presidential candidate and Kwankwaso agreeing to work with him.
The opposition has to come together for us to win. The opposition have already come together. Nobody said the coalition must happen on ADC.
It can happen in NDC, and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has already dropped his ambition, Abdulkarim said.
He urged Atiku and other opposition figures to join the arrangement, arguing that their participation could broaden the coalition’s national reach.
“What we are asking for is for other people to join us, including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, to join all of us, so at least we will have the spread that they think they can add,” he added.
Abdulkarim also defended the NDC’s campaign organisation against comparisons with the Obidient movement and other groups supporting Obi.
He argued that a political party should not be judged by the same standards as a support group, adding that the NDC had a large network of affiliated organisations.
How can you compare a party with a support group? We don’t have any problem.
They’re all part of the NDC party. We have more than a thousand support groups like that, he said.
On concerns about electoral credibility, the NDC campaign chief called on Nigerians who feared their votes might not count to support the party.
He said it had developed measures intended to protect votes during the 2027 elections.
Abdulkarim also pledged that the party would conduct a peaceful nationwide campaign and reach voters across the country.
“We are going to do our campaign peacefully. We are going to go into every corner,” he said.
He said the party would seek to reassure voters ahead of the election that their votes would be protected.
“I can promise anybody, anybody that feels he wants his vote to count, we have a very, very unique and serious programme that we have put in place,” Abdulkarim said.
The appeal comes as opposition figures consider possible alliances and political arrangements ahead of the 2027 presidential contest.
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Whether the proposed NDC platform will attract Atiku and other opposition leaders remains to be seen.
