Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, popularly known as the OK Movement, has rejected the description of the organisation as a mere support group of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), insisting that it remained an independent political organisation with its own structures and internal administration.
The National Director-General of the movement, Hon. John Ozyl Ughulu, made the position known in a statement, coming barely a day after the National Leader of the NDC, Senator Seriake Dickson, described the activities of the OK Movement as “unheard of” and “nonsensical.”
Dickson, while receiving a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, into the party, in Abuja on Tuesday, warned that support groups should not establish structures that compete with the political party sponsoring their candidates.
“Support groups don’t compete with the political party that is sponsoring candidates. Support groups don’t compete for supremacy, for space. Support groups are what they are: support groups.
“They provide grassroots support, mobilisation, and support. They don’t convert themselves to become critics of the political party sponsored,” he said.
Dickson’s comments followed the decision by the OK Movement to constitute a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council to mobilise support for NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The NDC had earlier dissociated itself from the council, saying its formation did not emanate from the party.
But Ughulu, in the statement titled, “Statement on the Status, Independence and Structure of the OK Movement”, said the movement would not accept any attempt to redefine its identity or subordinate its organisational structures to the NDC.
He said the OK Movement agreed that the Obidient Movement was a support movement but argued that a distinction had to be made between the various political organisations supporting the NDC candidates.
“I strongly agree with the position expressed by His Excellency, Senator Seriake Dickson, that the Obidient Movement is a support movement.
“It is also noteworthy that the Coordinator of the Obidient Movement was present at the press briefing where this position was expressed. However, there appears to be a missing link in the argument currently being advanced,” Ughulu said.
According to him, if the Obidient Movement and Kwankwasiyya were support movements, “then it becomes necessary to properly define the identity and status of the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, popularly known as the OK Movement.”