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Contents
…Ex-SGF Says He Found No Better Choice Than NDC’s Obi/Kwankwaso Ticket
…Explains Why He Left APC, ADC
…Senator Dickson Says NDC Strength Behind Attacks On Us Dickson
ABUJA, NIGERIA — A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Engr. Babachir Lawal, has formally joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, and has been assigned to coordinate the party’s 2027 campaigns in the North-East and North-Central geopolitical zones.
Lawal, who was received by the leadership of the opposition party in Abuja, said his return to active politics after a period of retirement was driven by concerns over insecurity, poverty, hunger and the future of the country.
The NDC leadership described him as an experienced political organiser and mobiliser whose decades of experience and extensive political network would be deployed to strengthen the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Welcoming him, the party’s National Leader, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, said his experience would be particularly useful in consolidating the NDC’s presence in the two zones.
He said:
“He will oversee everything in the northeastern part of Nigeria and, with him directing and guiding, we have no doubt that our party, which did very well, actually won a lot of states, even in the Northeast, that feat will be repeated.”
The party subsequently extended his coordinating mandate to the North-Central, directing him to help resolve political and organisational issues while providing guidance to candidates and campaign structures in the two zones.
“We count on you, therefore, to help resolve issues, give guidance and direction to activities of all our candidates and our campaigns in those two zones,” Dickson said.
The development comes as the NDC intensifies preparations for the 2027 polls. The party’s presidential ticket is held by Mr. Peter Obi and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as presidential and vice-presidential candidates respectively, following their emergence on the NDC platform earlier this year.
Why I Dumped APC — Lawal
Explaining his movement from the APC to the ADC and now to the NDC, the former SGF rejected suggestions that his political movements reflected lack of ideology.
According to him, his decisions were responses to what he regarded as failures by parties to uphold democratic principles and produce acceptable presidential candidates. 
“It is not my fault that parties fail to abide by the tenets of democracy,” he said.
He recalled that he remained in the APC throughout the eight-year administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, whom he described as a man of calibre, honesty and integrity.
“I was in APC, where I did not leave when APC produced General Muhammadu Buhari as a presidential candidate, a man of calibre, a man that is known as honest, a man of integrity. I remained there until Buhari finished his eight years and retired from politics,” he said.
Lawal said he later became dissatisfied with the direction of the APC and the process that produced its subsequent presidential candidate.
He said he had initially contemplated complete retirement from partisan politics rather than support what he disagreed with.
“And so rather than stay there and partner with evil, I decided that I would better retire from politics,” he stated. This is Lawal’s personal characterization; no criminal finding is implied against any party.
He said his return was influenced by living conditions of Nigerians:
“I looked at my life, I looked at the future of my children, I looked at the future of the friends of my children. I looked at the poverty, hunger, and insecurity that my neighbours, my colleagues, are living under.”
“I could find no other choice than to join a political party that brought out Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso as a presidential candidate,” he added.
Describing the two, he said:
“Peter Obi is a man of integrity. Kwankwaso is a man that loves his people. Both of them, in time they were governors, they left indelible marks among their people.”
“I think I have made a proper choice by coming out of my retirement and once again join Peter Obi to help make him the president of Nigeria,” he said.
‘Attacks Show Opponents Fear NDC’ — Dickson
Reacting to recent attacks on NDC supporters in some parts of the country, Senator Dickson said they were an indication that opponents were already worried about the party’s strength.
“The reason they are attacking the party is because they know the strength of the NDC. Even when campaigns have not formally begun, they know,” he said.
He said the election would ultimately be decided by Nigerians and argued that current socio-economic conditions would influence voters, calling on political actors to “play by the books.”
NDC Moves To Protect Votes
Meanwhile, the NDC has disclosed plans to recruit and train polling-unit agents nationwide to protect votes in 2027.
The disclosure followed questions on how the party intends to avoid a repeat of the difficulties experienced by the Labour Party with agents in the 2023 general elections.
The National Secretary of the NDC, Ikenna Enekweizu Esq., said a committee had already been constituted to coordinate the exercise, as contained in a recent press release by the party.
“Part of the content of that press release is an indication that we have set up a committee to help collate and train agents, polling unit agents and all agents that we are required to have to have a successful election,” he said.
“We will make sure that the right thing is done on that day. They will be there to ensure that whatever votes we get are protected and properly announced,” he added.
He said the National Working Committee formally inaugurated the committee at its meeting on Saturday, after which the committee held its inaugural meeting.
The party urged supporters to become “vote protectors” and not merely voters, saying:
“We like Nigerians to exercise no fear this time around as to the protection of the votes that they will cast for NDC.”
“We are working with all the leaders of the party across the nation to ensure that we put Nigerians who are determined for change to serve as agents of this party in the next election,” he said.
Another member of the committee, alongside the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr. Tanko Yunusa, said lessons from 2023 showed the importance of effective polling-unit representation, assuring that all polling units would be covered.
The NDC said consultations are also underway for its Presidential Campaign Council, with Obi and Kwankwaso involved in discussions over its structure.
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