Arise News political editor, Sumner Sambo, has urged the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi, to stay back in the party and fight.

Sambo made the call on Monday when he appeared as a guest in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’.

His call came after a Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, set aside its earlier judgment directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register the NDC as a political party.

“Why is it that anytime Peter Obi gets into one party, there seems to be a decision or an abrupt measure to escalate problems in that party, or to ensure that the party doesn’t compete in the elections?

“So, I think Obi himself knows it, and this is the time for him to stay in the NDC and fight, not to start thinking of leaving the NDC. He should stay in the NDC and make sure that he fights it out and come out victorious.

“If they pursued him from the PDP to Labour Party, and then to the African Democratic Congress, ADC, what makes him think that if he leaves the NDC, that they won’t fight him again?

“It’s already too late, so let him stay in the NDC, show his political credentials, and then fight it out,” he said.

A chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Eze Chikamnayo, has alleged that there is a deliberate onslaught by President Bola Tinubu against opposition parties.

Chikamnayo made the allegation in an interview on Arise Television on Monday.

He described last week’s judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, which nullified the registration of the NDC as notorious and very dangerous.

“There is a deliberate onslaught against opposition parties by the President.

“I want to use this opportunity to plead with his excellency President Tinubu to get his hands off the opposition parties.

“All it takes for peaceful change is for him to allow democracy to happen. If he makes peaceful change impossible, a violent change will be inevitable,” he said.

Recall that a Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, recently set aside its earlier judgment directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to register the NDC as a political party.

The former deputy spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, has said there is a fresh plot to delist the African Democratic Congress, ADC, ahead of the 2027 general elections. 

In a statement on Monday, Frank said any move to exclude ADC from the ballot in the coming general election would plunge the country into chaos. 

Frank warned that any attempt to exclude the ADC and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, would be heavily resisted by Nigerians. 

“We have been reliably informed of a fresh plot to use the judiciary and INEC to remove the ADC from the ballot come 2027. The ADC has always been the main target.

“The ultimate objective is to ensure that the ADC and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, do not participate in the 2027 election at all costs,” he said.

According to him, any move to delist ADC would damage Nigeria’s democratic image.

He urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and closely monitor what he described as a dangerous pattern being orchestrated by the ruling party in its alleged determination to retain power by every means possible.

“I urge Nigerians to take this warning seriously because a new twist in this plot will soon surface. What is being perfected is a dark agenda designed to silence opposition parties and perpetrate a massive electoral fraud ahead of the 2027 general election,” he alleged.

He further claimed that President Bola was Tinubu’s administration has abandoned democratic norms and is determined to use state institutions and apparatus to destroy opposition parties, especially the ADC.

“I call on the international community, especially the United States’ government, to intervene and ensure that Nigeria does not descend into crisis because of the desperation of those in power.

“The current administration has thrown decorum to the wind and appears determined to truncate democracy for selfish political interests by deploying state institutions against the opposition,” he said.

Frank further warned INEC and the judiciary against becoming “accomplices” in any alleged anti-democratic plot, saying that Nigerians, the international community, and posterity would hold them accountable for their actions.

“We are already aware of what is being planned. Those behind this conspiracy within the presidency are known to us, and their identities will be made available to the international community as individuals who enabled impunity and democratic barbarism in Nigeria,” he declared.

“Nigeria’s democracy must not be disrupted by the desperation of a few individuals who are determined to hold on to power at all costs,” he said.

Frank’s comment comes after Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the ADC, alleged a plot to use the judiciary and other means to delist the party. 

Recall that on Friday last week, a high court in Lokoja set aside the earlier judgment that compelled INEC to register it as a political party.