Senator Seriake Dickson, national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has pushed back against perceptions that Peter Obi is doing the party a favour by emerging as its presidential candidate, insisting no individual is more qualified than himself to contest the presidency.
Speaking on Arise Television’s Prime Time programme on Wednesday, the former Bayelsa State governor said he deliberately chose not to run despite his experience.
“No one is more qualified than me to run for president. I could have run for president before they (Obi) came. And for some reasons I did not want to,” Dickson stated.
He rejected any narrative suggesting Obi or other new entrants were granting the party a favour.
“Don’t make it look like anyone is doing NDC a favour. No one is. Rather, the NDC, I and my colleagues, are the ones doing people a favour by granting our platform to them,” he added.
Dickson also warned against disparaging the party leadership while claiming to support Obi.
“You cannot be supporting Peter Obi, if you are genuinely supporting him, and at the same time disparaging me, the leader, or the platform itself,” he said.
The remarks come shortly after the NDC issued a strong directive on party supremacy and warned against operating as a personality cult or movement. Dickson stressed that the party had been attracting strong members long before Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso joined.
