NDC Stages “One Million-Man March” in Ilorin to Push Obi-Kwankwaso Ticket

By: Tunji Okunlola

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) staged a major mobilisation in Ilorin metropolis on Saturday, taking its Obi-Kwankwaso campaign message through a procession that stretched over nine kilometres across the state capital.

The procession, tagged “One Million-Man March,” began at Offa Garage and moved through the Post Office to Lower and Upper Taiwo Road, before making a detour through the General Hospital axis, Surulere, the Emir’s Palace, and the Oja Oba area.

The mobilisation drew several NDC candidates, including Abdulrasheed Sulaiman Omoda, the party’s Kwara Central senatorial candidate, and Hon. Dr Thomas Audu Gana, its Kwara North senatorial candidate.

Speaking on the purpose of the rally, state NDC Chairman, Abdulsalami Abdulganiyu, said it was necessary to demonstrate the party’s presence in the state and take its message directly to voters. “Selling Peter Obi and Kwankwaso is the easiest thing to do here considering that Obi had quite an impressive show in 2023, electorally speaking,” Abdulganiyu said, arguing that Obi had given the NDC an existing electoral base to build on as the party enters the 2027 contest under its new platform. “People know what Obi can do. With Kwankwaso, I can assure you that we have the winning formula as you can see from the way people have received our rally on the street,” he said.

Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election under the Labour Party, secured 31,166 votes in Kwara State, with a significant share of that support coming from Ilorin metropolis: 15,598 votes in Ilorin West and 7,274 in Ilorin South, a combined 22,872 votes across the two local government areas. Those figures give the NDC a measurable baseline as it seeks to build on Obi’s established urban support in Ilorin and extend the appeal of the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket beyond what Obi recorded under the Labour Party in 2023.

For Omoda, the party’s emergence in Kwara reflects what he described as widespread economic hardship in the state. “Kwara’s multidimensional poverty is at 63 per cent,” he said, describing the NDC’s entry into the state as “a rescue mission.” However, the National Bureau of Statistics’ multidimensional poverty report puts the figures considerably higher at the senatorial district level: 69.1% in Kwara Central, 74.2% in Kwara North, and 72.6% in Kwara South, making Omoda’s 63% figure appear to understate the state’s actual poverty burden rather than reflect the correct statewide rate.

Gana, who is seeking to represent Kwara North in the Senate, said the party had made considerable progress building grassroots structures in the district, and that voters there were increasingly dissatisfied with the current administration’s performance. “My people have seen that the ruling party is doing a poor job of governing,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, Namo Phillip of Diaspora for Good Governance (DGG) said the time had come for Nigerians to place the country’s interest above other considerations.

Saturday’s procession gave the NDC a platform to carry the Obi-Kwankwaso message beyond conventional political gatherings and into the commercial and residential heart of Ilorin. The more consequential task for the party now will be sustaining that momentum and converting the visibility of the march into an organised grassroots structure ahead of the 2027 election.