Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has fixed October 20 for the inauguration of its presidential campaign council ahead of the 2027 general elections, as the party intensifies preparations for the presidential bid of Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
Gatekeepers News reports that the party’s National Chairman, Cleopas Zuwoghe, disclosed this on Saturday during a press conference in Abuja, saying consultations were ongoing with the presidential and vice-presidential candidates over appointments to key positions in the council.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, is the party’s presidential candidate, while Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, is his running mate.
According to Zuwoghe, the party has prepared the organogram for the campaign council but is taking time to ensure that individuals appointed to strategic positions demonstrate commitment and loyalty to the party.
“It is a sensitive election that we are going into. And we must check characters. It is not today you appoint one DG of your campaign. And in the middle of the campaign, you will hear that your DG is one leg in the NDC, one leg somewhere else,” he said.
“And will jeopardise the whole hope of this country. So they have to check and double-check.”
The chairman said the party had proposed a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) for October 20, during which the campaign council would be formally inaugurated.
He added that the party would also issue certificates of return to its candidates and organise a dinner to strengthen cooperation among those contesting under its platform.
Zuwoghe said the inauguration would mark a major step towards the full commencement of the party’s campaign activities for the 2027 elections.
He dismissed suggestions that the NDC had been inactive since unveiling its presidential ticket, noting that party officials had visited Sokoto and Kaduna states and were scheduled to visit Enugu State on October 15.
“We have been in Sokoto, we have been in Kaduna, on the 15th, we shall be in Enugu. So it is not to mean that we have not been working,” he said.
The development follows an earlier controversy involving the Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, a support group that unveiled a separate 59-member presidential campaign council in September.
NDC had distanced itself from that council, insisting that only the party’s leadership had the authority to constitute and announce its official presidential campaign council.
The party’s planned inauguration is therefore expected to establish its formal campaign structure as it prepares for the 2027 presidential election.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has already opened the campaign period for the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections.
