Seriake Dickson Blames Mandatory Direct Primaries for NDC Disputes

Seriake Dickson, National Leader and founder of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), attributed recent primary irregularities and internal party disputes to Nigeria's mandatory direct primary system. Speaking on Arise News, Dickson argued that the Electoral Act's requirement for direct primaries is a legislative error that strips parties of flexibility and creates logistical bottlenecks. He claimed the previous delegate system provided more structure and reduced the scale of contestation.

Dickson noted that the NDC faced a compressed timeframe for membership registration and conventions because the party is only four months old. He asserted that the current framework forces the Independent National Electoral Commission to coordinate overly complex ward-level processes, allowing multiple aspirants to claim victory through differing interpretations of results. He also cited the All Progressive Congress as another example of a party facing primary challenges under these laws.

To address the resulting disputes, the NDC National Executive Committee approved a Reconciliation Committee to work with state leaders. Dickson dismissed social media reports of monetized tickets and unofficial winners, urging party discipline behind the presidential ticket of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso for the 2027 elections. He promised that future primaries would be technologically driven to eliminate the manual errors associated with the current cycle.