By Naomi Sharang
The Obi-Kwankwaso Movement, popularly known as OK Movement, has insisted that it remains an independent political organisation, separate from the internal structure of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The National Director-General of the movement, Mr John Ughulu, stated this in a statement on Wednesday, while reacting to recent comments concerning the status and structure of the movement.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NDC National Leader, Sen. Seriake Dickson, recently said support groups should work with political parties and campaign structures rather than compete during elections.
Dickson made the remarks while responding to reports concerning a purported Presidential Campaign Council by the OK Movement and the relationship between support movements and political parties.
Ughulu said the OK Movement comprised individuals and members of different political parties united by their support for NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi and his running mate, Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso.
He said the movement agreed with the position that the Obidient Movement was a support movement, but argued that the principle should also define the identity of the OK Movement.
According to him, the OK Movement is not a support group created as an appendage of any political party or another movement, but an independently organised political organisation.
He said the movement was independently organised and managed through its established structures at the national, state, local government and ward levels across the country.
Ughulu said political cooperation between the OK Movement and the NDC should be understood as collaboration rather than organisational subordination, noting that both could pursue common political objectives.
He said the movement recognised the constitutional authority of the NDC over its internal affairs, but maintained that the party should equally recognise its independent identity.
“The OK Movement remains an independent organisation. Its existence and internal administration are not subject to the internal management of the NDC,” he said.
He added that the movement would continue to mobilise, campaign for and support Obi and Kwankwaso, while defending every legitimate vote cast for the candidates during the elections.
Ughulu said the movement would neither be collapsed nor merged into the NDC or any other organisation, adding that political alignment did not extinguish its independent identity.
He also said the movement retained responsibility for its organisational structures and would not surrender its national, state, local government and ward structures to any political party.
According to him, the OK Movement did not seek financial dependence on the NDC, as its activities and political mobilisation remained the responsibility of its members.
He said the movement had the right to establish its own campaign structure and strategy in support of the party’s candidates, within the framework of democratic participation.
Ughulu said the OK Movement did not claim supremacy over the NDC or seek to usurp the constitutional powers of the party in managing its internal affairs.
He listed the movement’s rights to include choosing and supporting preferred candidates, campaigning for them, mobilising voters, coordinating members and volunteers, and defending legitimate votes.
The National Director-General said the movement would resist, through lawful and democratic means, any attempt to appropriate its structures or redefine its identity without proper authorisation.
He said the movement’s structures had been built through the commitment and participation of thousands of members and coordinators across the country over time.
“No individual can simply declare that structure dissolved, transferred or absorbed without the authority of the movement’s legitimate organs,” he said.
Ughulu reaffirmed that the OK Movement’s commitment to its political objectives, organisational independence and support for Obi and Kwankwaso throughout the 2027 electoral process.
He said the movement would continue to participate peacefully and lawfully in the democratic process while maintaining its organisational structures and pursuing its stated political objectives.
“The OK Movement stands united, organised and focused,” he said.
(NAN)
