The National Leader of the newly registered Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has accused his political ally, Dr. Umar Ardo of sponsoring propaganda against his party.
The former Bayelsa State governor expressed disappointment saying Ardo is someone he calls a “friend and political ally for several years”.
“Dr. Ardo’s consistent propaganda against the NDC, especially knowing my involvement as founder and national leader, is shocking and speaks to a lack of respect and loyalty to friendship,” Dickson said.
Senator Dickson, insisting NDC’s registration followed due process, he detailed how NDC was eventually registered.
“The truth about NDC is in the public domain: The application commenced in 2017, when Dr. Ardo wasn’t even dreaming of registering a political party. The process stalled because INEC, under Dr. Mahmood Yakubu, halted the registration of political parties.
“However, last year when INEC lifted the embargo on registration of political parties, we revived our application and were subsequently listed alongside the 171 political associations. We waited to be invited by INEC to participate in the next stages of the registration process, only to receive a letter from INEC stating that our application was declined because our proposed logo, which is the two-finger sign, was similar to that of the APC broom.
“This was shocking to us, and we wrote back to INEC to restate that the logos were in no way similar. INEC persisted and even refused us the opportunity to change the logo, upon our offer to do so.
“We wrote to INEC notifying them of our intention to sue and we went to court over this unlawful exclusion and upon this, the court enforced our rights to freedom of association, deemed us registered and directed INEC to register us, which they have implemented. INEC announced the NDC as one of the political parties in the country and issued a certificate of registration which we thank Prof. Amupitan, SAN, and the INEC, just as we thank the Judiciary.
“INEC did not and has not appealed this judgement, and by the way, the period of appeal has elapsed and no one, except INEC, has the locus standi to appeal the judgement. The judgment has been enforced by INEC and there’s nothing to appeal anymore. Moreover, if INEC who is the defendant has not appealed the judgement which has been accepted, implemented and obeyed, then no one can appeal against such.
“Upon receiving the certificate, we gave the mandatory 21 days’ notice to INEC and they came about two weeks ago to observe our first NEC, which confirmed our officers and also took dates for our congresses and primaries, to be announced by the party soonest.” Dickson stressed.
The federal lawmaker further stated he would have supported Dr. Ardo if his All Democratic Alliance (ADA) was registered and his NDC were not.
“Considering our friendship, if ADA had been registered and NDC were not, I would have felt safe in calling Dr. Ardo’s party my own party and worked to build it in my areas of strength with my friends and allies which is what I expected Dr. Ardo to do, as I have always considered him a political ally and associate who should stand with me to deepen multiparty democracy and stem this drift towards one-party rule.” he said.
