NDC Campaign Chief Urges Atiku, Opposition Leaders to Join Obi-Kwankwaso Alliance

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 the 2027 presidential election.

Abdulkarim said opposition parties and political leaders needed to unite behind a common platform to strengthen their chances against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming election.

Speaking on Arise News, the NDC campaign chief said the proposed alliance was already taking shape within the party, with Obi emerging as its presidential candidate and Kwankwaso agreeing to work with him.

He argued that the opposition did not have to build its coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), insisting that the NDC could serve as an alternative platform for political cooperation.

“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 added that Atiku and other opposition figures were welcome to join the alliance to expand its national reach and bring additional political support to the platform.

“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 said.

Abdulkarim also dismissed criticism of the NDC’s campaign structures, arguing that the party should not be compared with the Obidient movement and other support groups associated with Obi.

According to him, the support groups operate within the party’s broader political structure, and the NDC has more than 1,000 such groups.

“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.

Addressing concerns about electoral fraud and whether votes would count in 2027, Abdulkarim urged Nigerians who lacked confidence in the electoral process to consider supporting the NDC.

He claimed the party had developed measures to protect votes during the election and promised that its campaign would be peaceful and extend to communities across the country.

“We are going to do our campaign peacefully. We are going to go into every corner,” he said.

The NDC campaign chief also pledged to reassure voters before election day that measures had been put in place to safeguard their votes.

“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 added.