₦airaland Forum

A Silent but bruising war is raging in the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) between two unlikely adversaries, namely the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi and his long-dated supporter, Aisha Yesufu.

Without an iota of doubt, Yesufu had been one of the most vocal supporters of Obi since the build-up to the 2023 elections during which Obi became the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP). She went everywhere with Obi during the electioneering, shouting herself hoarse and devoting every ounce of her energy to the campaigns in the hope that Obi would win the presidential election.

As it turned out, Obi lost the election with a wide margin, coming a distant third behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

Still, Yesufu did not relax her support for Obi. As the 2027 elections gathered momentum, she once again threw her weight behind the presidential aspirant, following him first to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) upon his defection from the Labour Party and then to the NDC.

Matters, however, became complicated when they arrived at NDC and Obi automatically picked the party’s presidential ticket while Aisha’s hope of an easy ride to picking the senatorial ticket of the party for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was dashed by the powers that be.

"No, no, no, no, don’t even go there," one of the party leaders was said to have told her (Aisha Yesufu) immediately she made her ambition known.

In place of Yesufu, another woman whose face was largely unknown in political circles was handed the ticket; a development that sent Yesufu into high dudgeon, causing her to accuse the party’s leadership of marginalising her. “I am not even asking for a level playing field; I only needed a field,” she said.

The grapevine has it that things have not been the same between her and Obi since the unsavoury experience and she has been waging a silent war against the NDC presidential candidate. Already, she has declined the party’s request that she should be on Obi’s campaign train for the 2027 election.

Yesufu is said to be unable to understand how Obi’s running mate, Dr. Rabiu Kwakwaso could push his loyalists in the party to obtain desired tickets not just in the north but also in the Southeast such that the party was beginning to look like an arm of the Kwakwansiyya Movement while Obi could neither stand nor push for his own loyalists in the sharing of party tickets.

emkz:
At what point did Aisha Yesufu decide to contest?

Did she inform party leaders before declaring? If she had informed Obi, Obi could have taken her to Dickson or included her as part of his negotiations to join NDC. At the worst, she could have been asked to take the NDC Senate ticket for Edo North where she comes from. In my view, she went about her contest naively. She undermined party leaders by allowing them find out about her ambition on social media.

See Obafemi Hamzat. He first went to meet party leaders in Lagos State to inform them. Those party leaders took him to Tinubu. That signals intentionality and maturity.

Despite being an opposition leader, Nyesom Wike is one of those Aisha Yesufu needed to see. Wike may not publicly support her, but he won't antagonize her if she showed him respect. Instead, she went on air to say nasty things against Wike. Same advice goes to Ireti Kingibe. Make friends, not enemies. Wike is FCT minister and has earned the trust of FCT voters. You gain nothing fighting him when he is supporting Philip Aduda.

Cyberterror:
The agulu fraudster used and dumped this woman because she is a muslim. Frustrated Obi is a religious bigot and a dullard

Cyberterror:
The agulu fraudster used and dumped this woman because she is a muslim. Frustrated Obi is a religious bigot and a dullard

owobokiri:
Tinubus newspaper "The Nation" is at it again. It is election time and they have gone haywire. Totally unhinged.
Pushing rudderless propaganda to maximize greater corruption in politics .
Are we all not tired of this?
All these gossips just to demarket a worthy candidate.
Someone should tell them that the poor masses are grappling with greater problems than this..

Saturnalia:
Strange bedfellows who have never slept in the same bed, with an evil agenda to grab Power without knowing what to do with it.

In 2023, their slogan was “Ellupee from Top to Bottom”, but in 2027, their slogan will inevitably be “No Vacancy in Aso Rock, Tilumbu till Infinity”.

favor914:
The way u ridiculed Gringory Obi for his weak performance when he was governor, it seems that u have been redeemed .

Interviewer:
“Where did Tinubu attend primary school and secondary school?”

Tinubu spokesperson:
“When you see Tinubu pls ask him”

Interviewer:
“But you are his spokesperson”

Tinubu spokesperson;
“That doesn’t mean I know everything about his private life”

This is madness. pic.twitter.com/hXzn7WM3GR

— OurFaveOnlineDoc 🇬🇧 🇳🇬 (@OurFavOnlineDoc) August 28, 2026

owobokiri:
Tinubus newspaper "The Nation" is at it again. It is election time and they have gone haywire. Totally unhinged.
Pushing rudderless propaganda to maximize greater corruption in politics .
Are we all not tired of this?
All these gossips just to demarket a worthy candidate.
Someone should tell them that the poor masses are grappling with greater problems than this..

aswani:
Whilst I think Aisha has a right to be upset, I don't think she can blame Peter Obí.

And I know Kwankwaso fought for his own followers a lot harder than PeterObi did.

That senatorial seat had actually being promised to the woman even before Obidients turned up in NDC.

My problem with Aisha is with her saying she was too big for HOR which she was offered as compensation. Aisha who on earth are you to say such a thing.

All na wash anyway, she wouldn't have won the senatorial seat or the HOR one.

Anything that will kpai or at least wreck the Obidient structure is good for me. I am very happy to hear of the impending fragmentation of a group of fanatical, rabid people whose only response to genuine discourse is insult and abuse.