Aisha Yesufu, an activist and prominent member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has publicly criticized the party’s national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, accusing him of displaying insecurity and acting as if he is in competition with the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Yesufu’s comments were made on X on Thursday, following an interview Dickson gave on ARISE NEWS, where he addressed post-primary tensions.
Reflecting on the interview, Yesufu described it as “painfully appalling.”
She argued that rather than focusing on his own ego, Dickson should have used his first major post-primary appearance to rally support for party candidates and project confidence toward the 2027 elections.
“This part of the interview was so painfully appalling to watch. It looked as if you were insecure and in competition with your presidential candidate,” she wrote.
She added, “Your first one-on-one interview after the primaries, and instead of selling your candidates and giving confidence to people on how set the road to winning the 2027 election was, you made it about yourself.”
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Yesufu also challenged Dickson’s insinuation that members ignored internal rules due to their popularity.
She defended her own conduct, noting that she followed party processes and worked to de-escalate frustration among supporters in the Federal Capital Territory who were upset when certain primaries were cancelled.
“While I took 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 the Senate, I let things go and asked my teeming supporters to focus on the bigger picture,” she stated.
Furthermore, Yesufu suggested that Dickson treats the NDC more like a “special purpose vehicle” that has already achieved its goal simply by being registered, rather than a genuine political force aiming for a 2027 victory.
She emphasized that a leader’s duty is to unite rather than alienate, stating, “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 an election. Every vote counts! A leader must stoop to conquer!”
Concluding her remarks, she urged a refocus on the party’s broader mission: “There is a whole battle ahead of us. Rescuing Nigeria from the current state it is in should be the main focus, not people’s fragile ego!”
In his original interview, Senator Dickson had sought to downplay reports of internal discord, maintaining that the party remains unified and asserting that criticism directed at the NDC leadership by some of Peter Obi’s supporters ultimately harms the candidate’s electoral prospects.
