NDC not a Special Purpose Vehicle — Siriake warns aspirants

…Votes must count in 2027—Obi insists

By Jude Opara

The National leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress ( NDC), Sen. Siriake Dickson has warned the aspirants vying to contest one elective position or the other under the platform of the party to note that the perry is just a”Special Purpose Vehicle”, which they can ride to political victory only to defect the following day.

Dickson who spoke Monday night in Abuja when the NDC hosted a get together dinner for its aspirants ahead of the party’s consensus primaries said he intends to replicate the legacies of a party like the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa.

According to him, the NDC would introduce a lot of innovations which are in contrast with the way most of the other existing political parties carry out their engagements.

“And I’m here to report to you all, the NDC, with all of you working together with us, this political landscape has been changed forever, it will not be the same. Tonight, I’m here to remind you that we’re not just building a political platform that people will use to win elections and later jump and leave.

“Did you hear me say that? Let me repeat because it’s important. The NDC is not a Special Purpose Vehicle for any human being. No matter how big, no matter how small, we are building together a political party that will stand the test of time.

“I liken it to the parties even in Ghana and the parties in Europe, the parties in the Americas. We want to build a party of principles, a party with a clear ideology of service, a party that is not a one-man show. And so, like you all, and like me, we believe that all of you are aspirants.

“We are building together a monumental movement that will outlast all of us. I often liken it to parties like the ANC. I liken it even to the Chinese Communist Party”.

This is as the presidential aspirant of the party, Peter Obi has warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that votes count in the forthcoming 2027 general elections.

Obi who also contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Labour Party said the Commission must avoid what they had described as “glitches” that affected the uploading of the results of the election.

The former governor of Anambra state equally advised the aspirants to understand that given the huge interest that the NDC is now generating, there is no way where two or more people eyeing one position will all get it at the same time.

“All of us will not succeed, all of us will not be selected, all of us will not be winners, but I assure you that it is time we start recognizing losers who have worked so hard. So please do not think that if I am not the person that it is the end of it, it is not the end, it is the ending of the beginning, because we will begin and work hard for our country”.

Obi equally shared some experiences he got from his recent trip to South Africa where xenophobic attacks against other African nationals and blacks living in their country.

He said; “It is important that this stage that all of us sacrifice for this country, and I beg you to do that faithfully. I just come back yesterday night from South Africa. You know what Nigerians are going through South Africa and so many other African countries, and I took time to sit down with three ministers who are leaders of their own parties to plead with them about how things can work between South African and other African nationals, and we had a very fruitful discussion

“I also took time to go and see people like President Mbeki to thank him for standing for our people at a difficult time, I took time to go around and see what our people are suffering, and in the end I addressed Nigerians. I said to them, if we had things working in our country the way it should be, most of you won’t be here. We asked them to come back. If you don’t know, we provided facility for them to come back, but most of them told me they would rather die there than come back. That it is even worst at home, that shouldn’t be Nigeria”.

Also speaking, the former governor of Kano state, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso who was represented by Engr. Buba Galadimma also toed the same lane by admonishing the aspirants to know that not all of them would emerge as candidates.

Galadima reminded Nigerians of the hardship they are passing through due to the harsh policies of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“It is important to say also that time pushed on us by the government of APC through the National Assembly is not a friend of the NDC. Therefore, if you are two up to 17 in any constituency, you must bear in mind that only one of you can have that opportunity to fly the flag, so the rest of you, whether you represent this party or you don’t have that opportunity for today, I will use this opportunity to appeal to all of you, and I’m saying this because I’m a member of the screening committee, so I know exactly what is on our table.

“You must exercise patience. You must exercise understanding and try to remain in this party, fight for this party, struggle for this party, because when we form government, the national government is an elephant, everybody will have enough to eat”, he concluded.