Pat Stevens/
Activist and former Abuja Federal Capital Territory senatorial aspirant, Aisha Yesufu, has accused the National Democratic Coalition (NDC) of subverting its FCT primary process.
She alleged that the exercise was manipulated to produce a predetermined outcome.
In a strongly worded statement released after the conclusion of the party’s primaries, Yesufu insisted that she neither withdrew from the race nor abandoned her ambition, contrary to speculation surrounding the contest.
“As the dust settles on the NDC primaries, I want to set the record straight: I did not quit, I did not drop out of the race. I stayed to the end,” she said.
The prominent activist, who became nationally known for her role in the Bring Back Our Girls campaign and later emerged as one of the most vocal supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi during the 2023 elections, said she had chosen not to challenge the outcome formally despite her objections to the process.
“I also do not intend to litigate a process that was never truly allowed to happen,” she stated.
Yesufu argued that her decision to enter partisan politics was driven by the belief that meaningful national transformation requires participation within formal political structures rather than activism from the sidelines alone.
“I came into politics from a deep conviction that to drive the transformation we hope to see, it is not enough to complain from the outside. You must step into the ring with your convictions and fight to get into the positions where decisions are made with the weight of the law,” she said.
According to her, she entered the race fully aware of the limitations of Nigeria’s political environment, particularly for candidates attempting to run on principles rather than patronage networks.
“I understood what I was getting into. I knew that the quality of our politics has not yet risen to the occasion, that values-based candidates do not easily emerge by merit in a system built to resist them,” she said.
She added: “I did not leave advocacy to go into politics. I took advocacy into politics.”
Yesufu described her campaign as one built around grassroots mobilisation and volunteer-driven structures rather than political dealmaking.
“Our ground game was on point. We had grassroots credibility, the kind you do not manufacture in a backroom,” she stated.
She also praised members of what she called the “SAY-Nation volunteer network”, claiming the strength of the movement contributed to efforts to remove the process from public scrutiny.
“The SAY-Nation volunteer network was formidable, so formidable that the process had to be taken out of the open and resolved through a clandestine affirmation behind closed doors,” she alleged.
She said volunteers campaigned “street by street, ward by ward, conversation by conversation” across Abuja, adding that the movement demonstrated what a “people-powered campaign” could look like.
At the centre of Yesufu’s complaints were allegations that the FCT primary process failed to comply with both party guidelines and broader democratic expectations.
“What was billed as a primary was, in truth, a predetermined outcome dressed in procedural formalities,” she said.
According to her, the exercise was repeatedly postponed, venues were altered at short notice and the process shifted away from what she claimed should have been direct primaries conducted across local government headquarters.
“Delegate-based process was introduced to be conducted at a central location instead of the direct primaries to be conducted at local government headquarters,” she alleged.
She further claimed that the eventual outcome was decided privately rather than through an open voting process.
“When the moment came, the contest was not decided by delegates in the open. It was affirmed in a closed room, away from the people whose voices it was supposed to reflect,” she said.
The NDC has yet to publicly respond to the allegations at the time of filing this report.
However, Yesufu acknowledged that the party was likely to defend the integrity of the exercise.
“The party will indeed go on to release statements upon statements about the free and fair nature of the Abuja FCT primaries,” she said.
“They are entitled to their voice, but the facts that transpired, when litigated by conscience and the guidelines of the Electoral Act, do not reflect justice and fairness.”
Despite her criticisms, Yesufu said she would not pursue legal or internal party action over the disputed process.
“I ran to win. But when the process was subverted, I made a choice: I would not exhaust myself in a grievance process designed to wear people down,” she explained.
Instead, she said the experience had given her a deeper understanding of how political systems operate internally.
“I now understand the architecture of the system in ways no textbook, no punditry, no amount of outside observation could ever teach,” she said.
“That knowledge is worth more than any petition I could have filed. I leave this process with something far more valuable than a ticket, I leave with clarity.”
Yesufu clarified that her account related specifically to the Abuja senatorial primary and should not be interpreted as a blanket assessment of the party’s primaries nationwide.
“It is important to note that this account reflects my experience in the Abuja FCT senatorial race. It does not speak to what transpired in other states,” she stated.
Although critical of the process, the activist maintained that the NDC still occupies an important position within the evolving opposition political landscape ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“For now, despite its shortcomings, the NDC remains the only party that has given the better presidential candidate in the 2027 electoral cycle a platform to run,” she said.
The activist nevertheless insisted that her political movement in Abuja would continue beyond the primary contest.
“This is not the end,” she declared.
“What we built, the network, the credibility, the grassroots trust, cannot be taken away in a backroom.”
She added: “The forces that tried to silence this movement have only confirmed its potency. I am not going anywhere. And neither is the idea that Abuja deserves better.”
Yesufu concluded the statement by unveiling a new political movement under the slogan “A Better Abuja 2031”.
“For #ABetterAbuja2031 is born. Abuja indigenes and residents, are you ready?” she asked.
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