BREAKING: Crisis Rocks NDC Over Alleged Irregularities and Interference in Imo Primary Elections

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According to report by Vanguard on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) is in the midst of a crisis as a result of claims of intervention and irregularities in the party’s primary elections in Imo State that took place before the 2027 general election.

Uche Nwole, a former lawmaker, said that high-ranking party members had rigged the primary election in order to undermine democratic values.

Concerns over the future of democracy in Nigeria and the necessity to protect internal party democracy prompted Nwole, who served as a federal constituency representative for the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru from 1999 to 2003, to return to active politics.

In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Nwole said that he was a PDP founding member who subsequently joined the NDC due to the party’s leadership and goals. Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate, has his full support, he added.

But he said that influential people in Imo State were trying to influence party structures and force candidates on the party, which has hampered their efforts.

He claims that the party’s national headquarters sent a committee to supervise the primaries, but Chief Babatunde Are was unable to do his job.

Nwole asserted that, despite the efforts of party members and hopefuls, the committee failed to show up at the scheduled locations.

Consequently, it was supposedly the officers of the local government party that ran the exercise and collated the results, which were subsequently submitted through the proper channels.

At the national level, he said, these results were disregarded in favour of what he called parallel outcomes.

The ex-lawmaker voiced concern that the party’s legitimacy and electoral prospects could be undermined if power were to become concentrated in the hands of just one person.

Party authorities have received petitions from hopefuls like Nwole, who are seeking an investigation into the primaries’ administration and a review of the results.

Public trust in the NDC could take a hit if unresolved complaints undermine the party’s standing before the 2027 elections, thus they pleaded on the p arty to be open, fair, and follow the rules.