The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) is battling a crisis on two fronts that threatens to undermine the Obi-Kwankwaso presidential ticket and the party’s viability as a political force ahead of the 2027 elections, as the Kano State chapter has wrested at least 12 House of Representatives and State Assembly tickets from nominees of the Kwankwasiyya Movement over an alleged breach of the agreed 60-40 power-sharing formula, with former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso reportedly considering leaving the party altogether, while a separate dispute has erupted between the NDC’s national leadership and supporters of presidential candidate Peter Obi’s Obidient Movement over new resolutions that critics say are designed to bring independent grassroots support structures under party control.
The twin crises strike at the heart of the political alliance that produced the NDC’s most significant asset: the pairing of Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, with Kwankwaso, the former Kano governor and leader of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, on a single presidential ticket. If either crisis escalates to the point of defection or open rupture, the consequences for the party’s 2027 prospects could be severe, particularly in Kano, which is regarded as the party’s stronghold in northern Nigeria and Kwankwaso’s political base.
The dispute in Kano traces back to Kwankwaso’s integration into the NDC, which was facilitated by the party’s National Leader, former Bayelsa Governor Seriake Dickson, who reportedly urged stakeholders to accommodate the former governor in the interest of party strength and cohesion.
At the initial stage, old NDC members in Kano expressed reservations about possible domination following Kwankwaso’s entry. However, both camps eventually agreed to a 60-40 sharing formula for executive positions and candidates, with the Kwankwasiyya bloc taking the larger 60 per cent share and the NDC’s existing members retaining 40 per cent.
The party then proceeded to elect executives and select candidates through consensus, with Kwankwaso emerging as the vice-presidential candidate alongside Peter Obi.
However, approximately 10 days after the party released the names of candidates from its primaries, complaints of marginalisation from the old members resurfaced. They accused Kwankwaso of not respecting the formula during the selection process, alleging that his faction had not conceded any seat to the original party members, effectively taking 100 per cent rather than the agreed 60 per cent.
Party officials also alleged that access to nomination forms was effectively skewed in favour of individuals aligned with the Kwankwasiyya Movement, to the exclusion of other aspirants.
In response to the alleged breach, the NDC Kano State chapter moved to replace several candidates earlier submitted by the Kwankwasiyya bloc. A document signed by the NDC chairman in Kano, Hussaini Isah Mairiga, and addressed to the party’s national leader Dickson, Kwankwaso, and the NDC North-West zonal chairman, confirmed the changes.
Five House of Representatives seats and seven State Assembly tickets were taken from Kwankwaso’s nominees and reassigned to candidates from the old NDC membership. The House of Representatives replacements included candidates for Kumbotso, Nassarawa, Kano Municipal, Doguwa/Tudunwada, Dawakin Tofa/Rimin Gado/Tofa, Sumaila/Takai, and Gwale constituencies. State Assembly adjustments were made in Dala, Tarauni, Kumbotso, Ungogo, and Dawakin Kudu constituencies.
The NDC Kano spokesman, Ibrahim Waya, told Siyasarmu TV that the party had repeatedly asked the Kwankwasiyya members to listen to their complaints but were ignored.
“You can’t just enter somebody’s house, open his wardrobe and start using his clothes without his consent. We didn’t even take the required 40 per cent approved for us. We only took four Reps seats and seven state assembly seats,” Waya stated.
He warned that the 12 seats taken so far were not sufficient to fill the 40 per cent quota and that more would follow. “If they had listened and given us what we asked for, we would have kept quiet. But now that there is crisis, even the 12 federal and state seats we took are not up to the required 40 per cent, so we will still take more. Now we will even take a senate seat,” Waya declared.
He also alleged that all other states adhered to the allocation formula except Kano.
The spokesperson of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Habibu Saleh Mohammed, denied the allegations and expressed shock that the party was raising the issue almost 10 days after the candidate list had been agreed upon and announced.
“It is surprising hearing them raise this issue close to 10 days after concluding our primaries through consensus. Where were they all this while? It is also not true that they have been trying to reach out for their allocation, but were shut down,” Mohammed stated.
He said the Movement was “still studying the situation” and would respond at the appropriate time.
The seat replacement has reportedly pushed tensions to the point where Kwankwaso himself is considering leaving the NDC entirely. The prospect of the party’s vice-presidential candidate departing the platform that produced his ticket would represent a potentially fatal blow to the NDC’s 2027 electoral strategy, particularly in northern Nigeria.
Former presidential aide Bashir Ahmad, reacting to the crisis on X, advised Kwankwaso to leave the party if he feels he is being treated unfairly. Ahmad urged Kwankwaso to “pursue his political ambition on another platform if he genuinely believes he has been treated unfairly by the national leadership, constrained or marginalised.”
The current crisis is not the first confrontation between the Kano NDC establishment and the Kwankwasiyya bloc. Shortly after Kwankwaso joined the party, state chairman Hussaini Isa Mairiga publicly rejected what he described as moves to cede control of the entire party structure to the former governor.
Mairiga insisted that the existing leadership would not surrender control, maintaining that Kwankwaso “wanted the entire party structure handed over to him despite the old members having been in the party before him and had contributed to setting up its structures.”
The national body intervened and brokered an arrangement under which Mairiga would continue as party chairman while Kwankwaso’s camp would produce other executives in line with the 60-40 agreement. That arrangement has now collapsed over the candidate selection dispute.
The NDC North-West Vice Chairman, Mohammed Rabiu Serina, and the Kano State Chairman issued a joint statement warning that no individual or faction should dominate internal processes or turn party structures into instruments of exclusion.
“We resisted attempts to exclude other stakeholders in the interest of fairness and inclusivity,” Serina stated, adding that “repeated interventions by the National Working Committee failed to resolve the dispute.”
While the Kano crisis centres on power-sharing between old and new members, a separate dispute has erupted between the NDC’s national leadership and the Obidient Movement, the grassroots support network built around presidential candidate Peter Obi.
At the party’s second National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, the NDC adopted a series of resolutions that its National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, presented as measures to strengthen internal democracy, enforce accountability, and institutionalise the party.
Key among the resolutions was a declaration that all affiliated groups and non-governmental organisations associated with the party “must operate under its guidance and control and should not function independently of, or parallel to, established party structures.”
The NEC also reaffirmed the principle of party supremacy, stating that governments elected on the NDC platform must consult party structures on programmes, policies, and appointments, except for personal staff appointments.
Most provocatively, the NEC declared that the party “is being built as a lasting institution rather than a personality-driven organisation, political movement, or Special Purpose Vehicle.”
Supporters of Peter Obi within the Obidient Movement have interpreted the resolutions as a direct attack on their independence and, by implication, on Obi himself.
Critics within the movement particularly objected to placing affiliated groups under party control, arguing that it amounts to an attempt to bring independent support structures, many of which predate the Obidient Movement’s association with the NDC and were built through grassroots organising rather than party machinery, under the authority of party officials.
They also interpreted the party’s declaration that it was not “a personality cult, political movement or Special Purpose Vehicle” as an indirect reference to Obi and the Obidient Movement, reading the statement as an assertion that the party’s identity and authority supersede the personal following that Obi built during the 2023 presidential campaign.
The tension reflects a deeper structural challenge that the NDC has faced since it became the vehicle for the Obi-Kwankwaso alliance: the party itself is relatively small and had limited national presence before 2025, while the Obidient Movement and the Kwankwasiyya Movement each brought enormous followings, organisational capacity, and political identity that existed independently of the NDC. The question of whether the party can assert institutional authority over movements that are in many ways larger and more dynamic than the party itself is at the heart of the current dispute.
Beyond the controversial resolutions that triggered the Obidient backlash, the NEC also approved the establishment of a comprehensive Code of Conduct for party officials and candidates, with a committee headed by the National Legal Adviser mandated to develop the framework. The NEC inaugurated a National Reconciliation Committee tasked with engaging and reconciling aggrieved members following recent political activities and internal contests. Stricter financial accountability measures for party officers and candidates were also introduced.
The party called on members to “remain committed to its ideals and contribute to its sustainability for future generations, stressing that loyalty to the party and the national interest must take precedence over personal considerations.”
Political analyst Dr Kabiru Sa’id Sufi of Kano State College of Arts, Science and Remedial Studies warned that the Kano crisis in particular could undermine the chances of the Obi-Kwankwaso presidential ticket.
“The ability to resolve the situation and for the two sides to make concessions is what will position the NDC as a stronger political party. But if dissatisfaction continues, it may even affect Kwankwaso’s posture and the chances of the party to perform well in the forthcoming elections,” Sufi stated.
He noted that some members were already calling on their leaders to consider defecting if grievances were not addressed, warning that defections from Kano would have “direct consequences for the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket.”
On whether the crisis was linked to external forces, Sufi said the problem was largely internal. “It may be about the party’s failure to resolve issues on time. The sooner they resolve it, the better for the NDC at both the state and national levels,” he stated.
The NDC now faces the extraordinary situation of battling internal crises involving both halves of its presidential ticket simultaneously. In Kano, the structures that Kwankwaso was supposed to deliver to the alliance are fracturing over a power-sharing dispute that has already resulted in 12 candidate replacements and could trigger the departure of the vice-presidential candidate himself. Nationally, the grassroots movement that gave Peter Obi his political base is pushing back against resolutions that it views as an attempt to subordinate its independence to a party establishment that the movement dwarfs in size and popular support.
The party’s stated ambition of being “built as a lasting institution rather than a personality-driven organisation” is directly challenged by the reality that its entire political viability rests on two personalities, Obi and Kwankwaso, and the movements those personalities built. If either movement concludes that the NDC is attempting to appropriate its energy while constraining its autonomy, the institutional shell of the party may find itself empty of the very forces that gave it national relevance.
The NDC’s National Reconciliation Committee, inaugurated at the NEC meeting, faces the urgent task of addressing both crises before they metastasise further. Whether the committee can bridge the gap between the Kwankwasiyya bloc and the old NDC members in Kano, and between the party establishment and the Obidient Movement nationally, will determine whether the NDC enters the 2027 campaign as a unified force or as a collection of warring factions sharing a party name.
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