Ruth NWORIE
National leader Of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Senator Seriake Dickson, has dismissed speculations that his party has come to say as an opposition voice in the country and not a proxy for any political party.
The senator, who represents Bayelsa West Senatorial District of Bayelsa State, also defended the legitimacy and independence of the newly registered political party, stating that there was no legal dispute surrounding the registration.
Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, Dickson, a former governor of Bayelsa State said his party followed due process before it was registered by INEC and added that all legal impediments were crossed.
He said: “I’m used to this kind of bullying tactics. I am not someone who is swayed by propaganda and blackmail,” describing the NDC as an ideological platform established to unite Nigerians who shared common democratic values.
Saying that his party remained open to engagement with other political groups, he however dismissed insinuations that the NDC was aligned to any political party.
While stressing the constitutional right to political association, he said: “No one can blackmail or bully me or any other Nigerian to belong to a party or form a party or take one view or the other.”
Addressing calls in some quarters for him and his supporters to align with other opposition platforms, including the African Democratic Congress or the Labour Party, Dickson stressed the need to respect citizens’ freedom of independent political choices.
“Democracy means you have the right and the freedom to be in the ADC, to be in the APC; to be in the Labour Party, and thousands of Nigerians also have the right to be in the NDC,” he said.
