2027 TSUNAMI: Why S/East, S/South NDC Must Field Candidates Who Can Win Without Peter Obi

AN OPEN LETTER, BY DR. SKC OGBONNIA 

May 17, 2026

Senator Cleopas Moses Zuwoghe.

The National Chairman, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC),

National Headquarters, Wuse II, Abuja.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you today on behalf of the teeming masses, grassroot supporters and advocates for a new political direction in Nigeria. Before further, let me congratulate you on a very successful convention. I also want to commend your powerful address at the convention. Frankly, it stands out as one of the finest speeches I have heard in recent years. Beyond your towering natural attributes, the speech owes its tremendous popularity to the fearless and charismatic way you spoke truth to power. You spoke. You spoke about how the party in power has pushed the country to the brink of collapse. You truly spoke--you were very eloquent on how NDC is set to chart a new direction for our dear country. You were visionary, bold, courageous and clear. Senator, you spoke the hearts of the Nigerian masses.

Moving forward-

I was an active observer at the premises of the NDC when the forms for Expression of Interest went on sales, May 13, 2026. I was a witness to history. I witnessed something big. In short, hope is back.

The mammoth crowd trying to purchase forms to run under NDC was amazingly overwhelming—a tsunami in making. It was a sea of faces—an endless wave of individuals blending into one massive, moving organism. The density was so tight that personal space was hardly guaranteed. 

Not surprisingly, apart from the enthusiastic Kwankwasiyya group, which was easily identifiable with their bright red and white caps, the crowd showed an over representation of aspirants from the Southeast and South-South zones. For sure, the current state of our great party under your leadership has sparked immense optimism, but it was clear that most of the eastern aspirants are understandably equally hoping on a resurgence of the 2023 political climate where Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party triggered an electoral tsunami in the two zones. But hope is no strategy.

The countdown to the 2027 general elections has begun in earnest. Yes, our great party, the NDC, is primed to comfortably sweep both the Southeast and South-South zones anchored by the seismic wave of Obi, but the party faces a catastrophic danger if it slips into complacency.

The year 2027 is by no means the year 2023. The point is that the ruling party has been shaken out of its slumber. It will not be caught unawares a second time. Though they are bound to fail ordinarily, the NDC must do more to produce and protect the votes.

First, NDC must not allow the repeat of the shame of the 2023 elections with regard to voting strength. For example, the presidential election results of that year revealed a deeply embarrassing statistical anomaly. The entire Southeast zone pooled only about 2.1 million total votes. Interestingly, Kano State alone posted 1.74 million total votes cast. That is, a single Northern state nearly matched the voting output of an entire Southern geopolitical zone! This absolute disaster must be avoided this time. The 2027 margin of victory in the South-East and South-South needs to be massive and undeniably reflective of the true, soaring population of the region. To achieve this, the NDC cannot rely solely on the coattails of Peter Obi. Besides presenting candidates who can win without Obi or Rabiu Kwankwaso, the next two months demand aggressive mass mobilization and registration of voters --not only in the Southeast and South-South zones but also across the country. This must not end in talk; there must be a concrete strategy as well as specific action plans. 

Second, this time does not call for political parasites. Candidates selected should have the potential to win on their own merit. The era of choosing weak, unknown candidates who are nerely hoping on a Peter Obi tsunami or the euphoria of Kwankwasiyya movement ought to be over. The NDC needs to ruthlessly select candidates who possess an established record of personal competence. 

Nowhere is the quality of candidates more important that the National Assembly. The legislature is Nigeria's ultimate arena of power where laws, budgets, and resource allocations are fiercely contested. This requires us to strategically use this candidate selection window to field our most formidable, unyielding intellectual heavyweights. The people of this region, particularly the Southeast, can no longer cry of political marginalization when we deliberately cripple our own federal presence by sending weak, silent bench-warmers to the National Assembly. We urgently demand principled champions who will unapologetically defend the interests of the people and fiercely resist the shameful, treacherous post-election defections that routinely betray our people's sacred mandates.

Basic requirements for aspirants ought to include:

a) Candidates selected deserve to have a tested character. It calls for men and women of unblemished integrity.

b) The year 2027 requires candidates who are truly competent and should have, at base, proven achievements in business, academia or public service.

c) Selected candidates ought to possess the desired intellectual depth--individuals who have the capacity and the mental fortitude to consistently examine complex ideas with rigorous analysis, nuance, and critical thinking.

d) This time calls for courage--fearless fighters who will stand firm against oppression or intimidation.

e) The NDC as the main opposition party should present candidates—men and women capable of pulling out maximum votes and who have in place realistic plans to physically defend the votes at the polling units.

f) Our candidates must be popular with the masses and their various communities. 

A common saying in Nigeria is that the country’s myriads of crises have deep roots in poor leadership. The next election is the opportunity to get it right. Of course, that journey begins with the quality of candidates presented at the elections.

Unlike in the APC where governors impose their lackeys across the country on the hope of rigging election with their trillion-naira war chest, the ongoing candidate selection process is a golden opportunity for the NDC to make the desired difference by deploying its finest materials. 

Sir, with your distinguished leadership team along with the dynamic duo of Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso anchoring the presidential ticket, victory in 2027 general election is assured. But a premium ticket requires premium candidates. In a nutshell, selection of the candidates at this level must go beyond the fleeting exigency of sentimental sympathy or mundane zoning. Now is the time to zero in on candidates who are popular and have the character, compassion, courage, competence, the capacity and commitment to WIN and lead well.

Yours Faithfully,

SKC Ogbonnia, Ph.D.

An NDC Stakeholder writes from

Ugbo, Awgu LGA, Enugu State.

Cc: All relevant levels of party leadership.