Nigerian activist and politician Aisha Yesufu has strongly criticised the National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Seriake Dickson, for suggesting that she did not adhere to party rules during the recent senatorial primaries in Abuja. Yesufu, a member of the NDC, expressed her displeasure in a post on her verified X handle on Thursday.
Background of the controversy
The activist turned politician was an aspirant for the FCT Senatorial primaries of the NDC, which she alleged were manipulated against her. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Dickson, while speaking on Arise TV on Wednesday night, suggested that Yesufu “might not have played by the rules” during the primaries.
Yesufu's response
In her X post, Yesufu told Dickson that as the NDC national leader, he should be pacifying aggrieved party aspirants rather than antagonising them. She wrote: “Dear Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, while I take my time to properly address your allusion to me not playing by the rules, which I consider very disingenuous, seeing how I followed the process and even when you had insisted there would be no primaries for Senate, I let things go and asked my teeming supporters to focus on the bigger picture.”
Yesufu claimed that she toured the FCT and pacified her supporters, who felt “rightfully disrespected” because they were waiting at their respective headquarters for primaries that never occurred. “As a leader of a political party, your number one job in that interview was to pacify aspirants, many of whom are rightfully aggrieved and secondly to call on supporters to bear with the party and support it, but you ended up antagonising the very people you would need to win the election,” she told Dickson.
Competition with Peter Obi?
Yesufu also reacted to Dickson's comments in which he said he could have been the NDC's presidential candidate and suggested that Peter Obi is not doing the party a favour by flying its flag. The activist described it as “so painfully appalling to watch” that part of Dickson's interview on Arise TV, adding that the NDC leader appeared to be competing with Obi, the party's presidential candidate. “It looked as if you were insecure and in competition with your Presidential Candidate. Your first one-on-one interview after primaries, and instead of selling your candidates and giving confidence to people on how to set the road to winning the 2027 election, you made it about yourself,” she told Dickson.
Focus on winning elections, rescuing Nigeria
Yesufu claimed that Dickson, in the Arise TV interview, presented the NDC as a “special purpose vehicle” aimed at successful party registration rather than ensuring electoral victory in 2027. She stressed that Dickson appeared to be battling to remain as the NDC's leader even without any rivals. “It looked as if you were fighting a war no one was waging with you. You don’t have anything to prove to anyone, lead! No one can take away your leadership of NDC, no one is interested in that! The focus is on Nigeria; it is winning the 2027 election!” she said.
Yesufu urged Dickson to take responsibility, acknowledging that the party is young and overwhelmed, and mistakes will be made. “Accepting the mistakes and being accountable is how the party will get better,” she concluded.
