…admits; sympathizes with aspirants over irregularities
Photo: Sen. Henry Seriake Dickson, Founder and National Leader of NDC, addressing challenges from the party’s just-concluded primaries during an Arise TV interview last night. Photo: Arise TV
By Chucks Nwonye
PORT HARCOURT — Founder and National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has sympathized with aspirants over “noticeable irregularities” in the party’s primaries, but insisted the challenges are not peculiar to the four-month-old party.
In a Press Release he personally signed on the heels of his interview with Arise TV last night, Dickson said while he was “not claiming that the exercise was perfect”, aspirants should “bear with the party in view of the circumstances we are managing, which have overwhelmed even bigger parties.”
He cited the APC and ADC as examples: “This includes parties with a sitting President, 33 Governors, and control of political structures in most states, in the case of the APC, and even the ADC, which is over two years old.”
Dickson traced the root of the problems to the Electoral Act, arguing that “the APC-led majority were wrong in foisting compulsory direct primaries on political parties and the country.”
“Complaints about irregularities in direct primaries are pervasive across all parties and are not peculiar to the NDC,” he stated, adding that “As a matter of fact, considering the age of the NDC and the teeming number of aspirants we have had to manage, we have done quite well.”
The former Bayelsa governor said the party was forced to execute membership registration, congresses, national convention, primaries, appeal processes, and reconciliation “within a very tight electoral timeframe” after its formation four months ago.
On reports of winners emerging, Dickson urged caution: “I also noted that no party has announced any set of winners from its primaries, and neither has the NDC. The public should disregard any such claims in circulation, especially on social media, and await the party’s formal submissions through the appropriate channels. The results of party primaries are not announced like school results; they are communicated through formal channels.”
He disclosed that the NDC’s 2nd NEC meeting “approved the composition of a Reconciliation Committee to work with state caucus leaders and other stakeholders in managing grievances.” Dickson also promised a tech-driven process next time: “As I have stated before, this is our first set of primaries, and it will also be the last to be conducted manually. The next primaries will be technologically driven and will have none of these issues.”
Dickson appealed for unity and threw his weight behind the party’s presidential ticket: “We are in this together, and we are all committed to ensuring the success of our party and our presidential team, their Excellencies Peter Obi and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who are my colleagues in this project.”
He further charged state leaders who coordinated the primaries to own the reconciliation process: “Most of the candidates are persons backed and recommended by them, and not me nor the national leadership of the party. It is not a time to shift blames or dodge responsibilities.”
