The Orashi National Congress has endorsed Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate Dumo Lulu Briggs ahead of the 2027 Rivers State governorship election, a decision the group frames as a statement on political equity rather than a routine endorsement.
The congress reached its decision at a special convention in Erema, in Ogba Egbema Ndoni local government area, after weighing the political, developmental and security challenges facing the Orashi region and the wider state. In a statement from Lulu Briggs’s media adviser Nia’Bari Fakae, the endorsement rests on the argument that Rivers West senatorial district deserves a turn producing the state’s governor, but Fakae said its significance runs deeper, reflecting a broader desire among communities to have a genuine say in choosing their leaders.
Fakae linked the timing to wider debates over internal party democracy, money politics and the outsized influence of political godfathers ahead of 2027, arguing that the Orashi decision shows communities can make independent political choices based on their own priorities rather than simply following established power structures. He noted that a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt dismissed a legal challenge to Lulu Briggs’s emergence as the NDC’s candidate in July after the plaintiff withdrew the suit.
He said Lulu Briggs has built his campaign around equity, unity and development, and around letting the people decide, and described the Orashi endorsement as an expression of confidence in that alternative rather than a mere party development. He argued that the growing support suggests the 2027 race may ultimately turn less on the size of political machines and more on which candidates can earn genuine public trust, and urged stakeholders to take seriously the message coming from the region.
