National leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Senator Seriake Dickson, yesterday urged Nigerians to disregard what he described as propaganda surrounding the party’s registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The former Bayelsa State governor defended the legitimacy of the party’s registration, dismissing allegations of irregularities and insisting the process followed due procedure.

In a post on X, the senator representing Bayelsa West said NDC’s formation dated back to 2017, contrary to claims that it was recently registered without meeting legal requirements.

His remarks come amid threats by a promoter of the All Democratic Alliance, ADA, Dr. Umar Ardo, to challenge the registration of the NDC in court over alleged procedural breaches.

This happened on a day the party said it had registered 10 million members less than 48 hours after former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; former governor of Kano State, Senator Musa Kwankwaso, and some African Democratic Congress, ADC, leaders joined it on Sunday evening.

The NDC held its state congresses yesterday and elected state executive committees as the ADC and the camp of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar denied alliance talks with it.

Dickson maintained that the NDC’s emergence was the product of a long-standing process, adding that documentation existed to support its claims.

“For the record, the annexures show that we initiated the registration process for the NDC as far back as 2017, and that INEC granted approval at that time before the process was halted. When party registration resumed last year, we revisited and updated our earlier application,” he said.

He noted that the party was conceived as an ideological platform designed to endure beyond its founders and contribute to national development.

“Our goal in the NDC is to build an ideological political party that can endure beyond its founders for generations to come,” Dickson said.