Former Bayelsa State governor and senator, Seriake Dickson, has rejected allegations that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) awards nomination tickets to the highest bidders, while acknowledging shortcomings in the party’s recently concluded primary elections.

Responding to questions during an Arise Television interview on Wednesday, Dickson said the party was actively addressing grievances raised by members in several states, including Edo and Imo, where aspirants have protested alleged irregularities and breaches of electoral guidelines.

“I have never claimed that the primary process was perfect. Far from it,” he said, adding that the party had intended to introduce electronic voting to improve transparency but lacked the time and logistical capacity to implement it.

He explained that the adoption of direct primaries under Nigeria’s electoral framework significantly complicated the process, especially for a newly established political platform managing large numbers of aspirants.

“In many cases, there were 15 or 20 aspirants seeking the same position, that naturally created intense competition and disputes,” he noted.

Addressing claims that party structures in some states had been captured by influential individuals who allegedly control access to party tickets, Dickson maintained that such narratives were not supported by evidence at the national leadership level.

On accusations that wealth determined access to governorship tickets, he was categorical in his response: “The NDC does not sell nomination forms or tickets based on wealth. Nobody has come forward with evidence that the National Working Committee or the national leadership collected money in exchange for tickets.”

However, he acknowledged that financial capacity remains a practical consideration in electoral politics.

“In politics, resources matter. Every political party considers whether an aspirant has the capacity and resources to run a viable campaign,” he said, stressing that this should not be misconstrued as commercialisation of party tickets.

Dickson maintained that while internal disagreements exist, they are being managed within the party’s structures and should not be interpreted as evidence of systemic collapse.

National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and former Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has renewed his criticism of Nigeria’s direct primary system, arguing that it is a major driver of internal party disputes and widespread complaints across political parties.

Speaking during an Arise Television interview, Dickson said the inclusion of mandatory direct primaries in the Electoral Act was, in his view, a legislative error that stripped political parties of the flexibility to determine their own candidate selection processes.

He argued that political parties should have been allowed to choose between direct and indirect primaries, insisting that the imposition of a single model has created avoidable tensions.

According to him, the previous delegate system offered greater structure and control, reducing disputes and limiting the scale of contestation compared to the current arrangement.

“We did not have this deluge of complaints under the delegated system,” he said, adding that reforms were intended to deepen democracy but had also introduced significant logistical and administrative challenges.

Dickson noted that under the current framework, electoral bodies such as INEC are required to coordinate extensive ward-level processes, a task he described as highly complex, especially for new and emerging political parties.

He further argued that the direct primary system has created an environment where multiple aspirants can independently declare victory based on differing claims and interpretations of results, leading to parallel announcements and disputes.

“In a direct primary situation, people go into the field, gather supporters, declare themselves winners and begin to brandish results,” he said.

While acknowledging that grievances are not unique to any single party, Dickson maintained that the system itself contributes significantly to internal conflicts and competing claims within political organisations.

The National leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Seriake Dickson, has revealed why he left the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and formed the NDC.

Featuring in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’ on Wednesday, Dickson said there is no democracy without the opposition.

According to the former Bayelsa state governor, he does not move with the crowd.

He said people defect to the ruling party, they can have appointments, contracts and enjoy federal and state patronage.

“We should encourage people to be in opposition because there’s democracy without opposition.

“People join the ruling party to be assisted by so-called federal mights, to write results and have security support to terrorize and humiliate their people in the name of rigging elections, and so on.

“I am not a politician of that mode. Since 2015 PDP lost federal power, I was the first opposition governor who bore the brunt of that federal loss of power.

“I have been in for sometime as an opposition politician. So, being in the opposition doesn’t scare me,” he said.