The Obi-Kwankwaso (OK) Movement has questioned the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC)’s preparedness for the 2027 general elections, with its Director-General, John Ughulu, criticising the timing of the party’s National Campaign Council announcement and its grassroots mobilisation capacity.

Ughulu made the remarks in a statement issued to journalists in Abuja on Monday, October 26, a day after the NDC unveiled its campaign council ahead of its formal inauguration in the Federal Capital Territory.

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The OK Movement chief argued that announcing a campaign council close to the election period raised questions about the party’s organisational readiness and its ability to coordinate a nationwide campaign.

He also claimed that several members of the newly announced council might eventually turn to the movement for grassroots mobilisation support.

“The funny part of this list is that 90 per cent of the people on it will still come knocking on the doors of the OK Movement to beg for the very structure they have failed to build themselves!” Ughulu said.

He further challenged the NDC leadership to explain its preparations before unveiling the council.

“With less than three months to the general elections, they are only just announcing their Presidential Campaign Council.

What exactly have they been doing all this time? Where is the structure? Where is the strategy? Where is the machinery required to prosecute a serious national election?” he asked.

The criticism comes amid disagreements between the NDC and the OK Movement over the movement’s organisational independence and its role in the campaign for the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.

The NDC announced its National Campaign Council on Sunday, naming its National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, as chairman and Obi as co-chairman.

The party’s National Chairman, Senator Cleopas Moses Zuwoghe, was named vice-chairman, while Kwankwaso was appointed co-vice-chairman.

The NDC’s National Secretary, Ikenna Enekweizu, was named council secretary, with Ibrahim Abdulkarim appointed director-general of the campaign.

Other figures associated with the campaign structure include former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal, former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege, former presidential candidate Pat Utomi and Buba Galadima.

The party said the council would coordinate campaign activities nationwide and mobilise support for its political agenda ahead of the 2027 elections.

Ughulu and the OK Movement’s state, local government and ward coordinators were not listed among the council appointees, a development that comes against the backdrop of the disagreement over the movement’s place in the campaign organisation.

The OK Movement maintains that it has developed its own grassroots network and should retain its organisational independence rather than operate merely as a conventional support group.

The dispute highlights a broader question facing the NDC and its allies as election preparations intensify: how the party’s national leadership, campaign council and external support structures will work together to coordinate mobilisation across the country.

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While Ughulu has asserted that the movement possesses a stronger grassroots network, his assessment remains the position of the OK Movement and has not, by itself, established the comparative strength of the two organisations.