By Hadiza Mohammed, Northern Operation
Activist and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) member, Aisha Yesufu, has openly criticised the party’s national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, accusing him of alienating supporters and turning a crucial post-primary moment into what she described as a personal battle for relevance.
Yesufu’s criticism followed Dickson’s appearance on ARISE NEWS, where the former Bayelsa governor defended the party leadership and dismissed criticisms from some supporters of the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, after the party’s primaries.
In a strongly worded post shared on X on Thursday, Yesufu said Dickson’s interview projected insecurity rather than leadership at a time party faithful expected reassurance and unity ahead of the 2027 general 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.
According to her, Dickson missed an opportunity to calm tensions within the party and instead focused excessively on himself rather than promoting the NDC’s electoral prospects.
“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,” she added.
Yesufu also rejected suggestions by Dickson that some members had refused to follow internal party procedures because of their popularity or influence.
The activist maintained that she complied with the party’s processes throughout the primaries, despite disagreements over the conduct of Senate primaries in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“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.
She disclosed that she toured parts of the FCT to pacify aggrieved supporters and party members who felt sidelined after waiting for primaries that ultimately did not hold.
Yesufu further argued that Dickson appeared more concerned about consolidating control within the party than building a winning political movement capable of challenging for power in 2027.
“With all due respect, sir, it looks as if you consider the NDC a special purpose vehicle whose aim has been achieved just by being registered instead of a political party whose aim is to win the 2027 general election decisively,” she wrote.
The activist stressed that Dickson, as party leader, should have focused on reconciling dissatisfied aspirants and strengthening party unity instead of engaging in disputes with supporters whose backing would be critical in the next election cycle.
“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!” she said.
Insisting that nobody was contesting Dickson’s leadership position, Yesufu said the bigger challenge before the party was how to rescue Nigeria from its current socio-economic and political difficulties.
“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!” she added.
Dickson had earlier defended the NDC against criticisms from some Obi supporters, warning that attacks on the party and its leadership could undermine the presidential candidate’s ambition ahead of the 2027 elections.
The former governor also dismissed claims of internal crisis within the party, insisting that disagreements arising from the primaries were normal in democratic politics and that the NDC remained united.
