The Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, popularly known as the OK Movement, has vowed not to collapse or surrender its political structures to the Nigeria Democratic Congress ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Director-General of the movement, John Ughulu, made the position known on Wednesday while reacting to comments by NDC National Leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, on the role of political support groups.
Ughulu said the movement would not allow the NDC or any other organisation to absorb its structures at the national, state, local government and ward levels.
The development follows a disagreement between the movement and the NDC over the creation of a 59-member Presidential Campaign Council announced by the OK Movement last week.
The NDC subsequently dissociated itself from the council, saying it did not originate from the party and should be disregarded.
The party also maintained that no individual, candidate or support group was authorised to establish or announce a campaign structure in its name without approval from the National Working Committee.
Dickson later said support groups had a role to play in mobilising voters but should not compete with the political party or create structures that perform the functions of the party’s official campaign machinery.
Responding to the position, Ughulu rejected the description of the OK Movement as an ordinary support group attached to a political party.
He said the movement was independently organised, managed and structured through its own internal mechanisms.
According to him, the organisation’s relationship with the NDC is based on its decision to support the party’s presidential candidates, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, rather than on the movement becoming a subordinate structure of the party.
Ughulu argued that the political identities of the Obidient Movement and Kwankwasiyya movement had previously been discussed in terms of support organisations, but said the OK Movement should be understood according to its own organisational structure and objectives.
He also rejected Dickson’s criticism of the movement’s decision to establish a presidential campaign council.
The disagreement is the latest development in a dispute that began after the OK Movement unveiled its 59-member council on September 17.
The announced structure included zonal and state coordinators as well as directors responsible for areas such as mobilisation, women affairs, strategy, security, legal affairs, administration and information technology.
The structure covered Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, the Federal Capital Territory and the 36 states.
The NDC responded by stating that the party alone could constitute and announce its official Presidential Campaign Council.
National Chairman Moses Cleopas said candidates contesting under the NDC platform were subject to the authority and discipline of the party.
He also said support groups were welcome to continue mobilising for the party’s candidates but should not establish alternative or parallel party organs.
The OK Movement, however, has maintained that its independent organisational identity allows it to organise its own activities while supporting candidates of the NDC.
In an earlier response, the movement’s National Secretary, Saadatu Sani, said the group recognised the constitutional and statutory role of political parties but insisted that its support for Obi, Kwankwaso and selected NDC candidates did not make it subordinate to the party.
Sani also said the movement had developed a nationwide grassroots structure and an internal database representing approximately 2.5 million registered members and coordinators.
She described the OK Movement as an organisation with a long-term political vision rather than a temporary support group created solely for the 2027 election.
The NDC has meanwhile moved to constitute its own official Presidential Campaign Council, saying Obi and Kwankwaso have been given authority to nominate key officers in consultation with the party leadership.
The proposed positions include Director-General, Deputy Director-General for the North, campaign spokesman and deputy spokesman, Head of New Media, Finance Director and Deputy Finance Director.
The dispute has therefore created a distinction between the NDC’s formal campaign structure and the independent organisational structure claimed by the OK Movement.
While the NDC says support groups should operate without creating parallel party structures, the OK Movement insists that its own national and grassroots organisation will remain independent even as it supports the party’s presidential ticket.