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Aisha Yusufu: When ambition must bow to reason!
By Sunny Igboanugo
I must confess harbouring genuine fear in the last few days. The signals filtering in from the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), kept me substantially restive.
But it immediately transcended to apprehension and trepidation when Henry Seriaka Dickson, National Leader, appeared on Prime Time, the public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television.
This is it, I told myself. Yes, I was becoming increasingly convinced that my fear that the Ofirimapepe – the Great White Shark from Bayelsa – was about to unravel. Knowing Nigerian politicians, I had not been able to wean myself of the fear that the former Governor did not have a hidden agenda.
Listening to the same ARISE NEWS panel, this time on The Morning Show, its breakfast programme, review Dickson’s outing in the earlier encounter with Charles Aniagolu, I knew I was not alone in entertaining this fear.
There, the panelists alluded to the same fears – probably picked from their individual antenna – to the effect that Dickson would betray Obi – confirming that I wasn’t just overthinking.
Now, among the different angles that had been bandied is the one suggesting that Dickson was actually not interested in Peter Obi becoming President – “because he knows he will not win” – but that he is actually using his name to build the party for the future.
In fact, they stretch the prognosis to suggest that the real interest is for the Senator to pair with Rabiu Kwankwaso, current running mate with Obi in the 2031 presidential election. In other words, it is all about 2031. For me, this wasn’t as dangerous as the one I had been pondering over since Obi’s entrance into the NDC.
Now, my own prognosis was that the entire scenario depicted APC at work. I confess this much. I had always believed that the process of Obi’s emergence and picking the NDC was too smooth for comfort. Were APC and President Bola Tinubu particularly, who had been accused of not wanting the former Governor of Anambra State on the ballot in 2027, knowing what he did to him in the 2023 edition, sleeping?
This naughty knot in my throat, too difficult to swallow, was reinforced by Dickson’s particular expressions during the encounter. First, came the fact that nobody – make it Obi – was doing him or the NDC leadership a favour by joining the party, but rather, it was the other way.
Then came the bigger one, when he began to boast that nobody was more “qualified” to run for the nation’s number one job than him – I interpreted it to be a direct attack on Obi. The question was why? Why would he be launching such needless blitzkrieg on his own party’s candidate – the same man he would be going to war with?
Then, I concluded that it was a gambit to draw Obi out to a fight – that he was deliberately baiting the 2023 Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate – daring him to say piim in form of a reply and then – voom! The bloody battle will start and then, the inevitable – Obi’s name will either disappear from the NDC list or something close to it!
Both ways, it would be bad business for the Obi project – the only hope for citizens to get out of the nightmare they find themselves under the terrible disaster, called – APC’s Tinubu. I couldn’t bear the thought.
Now, I confess I was wrong! I have just listened to Dickson’s clarification and realised that this might not be the case. On the contrary, the culprit is actually Aisha Yusufu, arguably one of Obi’s most trusted allies. The rumble in the NDC, has all the trappings of a wounded ego she’s nursing at the moment.
It is clear that she is unable to manage her bitterness for failing to obtain the ticket of the party for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senatorial election in 2027.
It is a delicate situation, because of what such anger could wrought, as already becoming evident. What is more? It might all be a matter of the self-entitlement factor, given her profile.
I could imagine what she’s struggling with and the questions in her head right now. How could a whole Aisha, Nigeria’s tough-nail activist fail to clinch such a simple trophy given her status and what she had done for the party? Why wouldn’t she get what she wanted given “all she had done” for Peter Obi?
How would I know the angle Dickson just revealed – that he (Dickson) and Obi, sat down to practically beg the self-same Aisha to take the House of Representatives ticket of the party – for FREE! But she refused flatly. For her, it was the Senate or nothing.
Now, this is where politics is different from populism. Dickson didn’t just fall into the leadership of the NDC. So many things happened to that effect. Just like Aisha is Obi’s man-Friday, so too is Dickson supposed to have his own. Politics is all about give and take – quid pro quo – rub my back I nwekee yours!
Did Aisha expect that Dickson would not have his own interests? Did Aisha expect that Obi, after picking the presidential ticket, would also begin to scramble or contest with the Ofirimapepe for the FCT ticket, his own share of the booty?
Okay, did she expect that Dickson must subsume that interest under hers for there to be peace? Just because she is Aisha – Nigeria’s number one activist? Does she expect Dickson to go empty-handed – just because she has access to “important people?” Imagine!
Dickson claimed that he and Obi pleaded with her to take the House Representatives ticket for free, but she flatly refused. Pray! Is House of Representatives too low to start as a political fresher?
I saw her earlier video that went viral, where she was complaining before party leaders that she was denied the platform to contest the ticket. What platform was she talking about?
Isn’t it akin to Atiku Abubakar insisting on contesting the African Democratic Congress (ADC’s) ticket with Peter Obi, for which he is being called names till date.
Like Atiku, who says she wouldn’t have won the primaries for the FCT ticket? Yes, if allowed, she might have defeated Amanda Pam, the lawyer whom had reportedly been penciled down by Dickson’s choice.
But wouldn’t that mimic the nuances surrounding Atiku defeating Obi, et al in the ADC primaries? Would that be the end of the story? How would Dickson feel that his candidate was shoved out of the way in place of a newcomer?
Yes! She might argue that it is all about democracy. But even democracy must be given a human face. Much more than taking Tinubu and his wicked government out of power, a major reason many people also demanded that Atiku ceded the ticket to Obi, was for this same human face of democracy – including for the South to remain in power – moreso – South East.
Just in the same way many believed that Atiku could easily pick the ADC ticket but fail woefully in the main election, isn’t it also true that Aisha could have defeated Pam in the run for the NDC ticket, but fail at the main election – especially given what many see as her deep-rooted relevance in Abuja politics – even outside Dickson’s particular interest?
Now, I understand Dickson’s outburst clearly and it is as well that he came out to make clarifications. Now I know it is not about Obi. Now I know it is not a gambit to stoke an imaginary quarrel in the NDC just to endanger the ticket. Now I know it is not APC or the Aso Rock Villa or Bourdillon at work. Now I’m so happy!
In recent days since this imbroglio, Aisha has spoken less about the Peter Obi presidency, hitherto on her lips. I hope the apparent reticence is not her way of waying the option of joining the likes of Kenneth Okonkwo and other turncoats.
Surely, the naysayers, must be on her case by now, baiting her to take a bite. I hope she’s not pecking at it, not to talk about swallowing the line. I just hope she would take the more glorious option of dusting herself and re-engaging in what she is known for – crusading for the society.
Shakespeare once wrote that “hell hat no fury than a woman scorned.” Granted that it is human to feel angry or disappointed, but the cure cannot come from taking a dive into the sea.
Impulse or recklessness could lead to plunging into the morass of infamy. I should suggest she asked Okonkwo how it feels in there. Thank God they’re both still friends. It mightn’t only be critical, but indeed fatal – like from frying pan into fire. I won’t say more!
_ The Tiny Voice!
After allegedly being rejected as Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, Femi Fani-Kayode, former Minister of Aviation, has been reassigned as Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to South Africa, while his place is said to have gone to Ita Enang, former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Legislative Matters.
Reports had said as far back as March that the former Minister and vocal voice in national affairs was not granted a welcome to Berlin, the German capital, due to what was claimed as his divisive ethnocentric public commentaries, labelling his potential presence as destabilising to diplomatic relations, claims he promptly repudiated as fake news.
While no official statement has come from either the Presidency or the Federal Ministry of Information to confirm the new status of Enang, Fani-Kayode has since confirmed he is heading to Johannesburg.
Reacting to the news, which circulated widely on social media—particularly on X, claimed that Germany had declined to his appointment, Fani-Kayode, described the reports as “fake news” and accused political opponents of attempting to undermine his appointment.
“These opposition elements are so pained by my appointment that they are doing everything to discredit it. Whether they like it or not, I will serve my country,” he stated.
The former minister emphasized his commitment to serving Nigeria, dismissing the rumors as baseless attempts to scuttle his diplomatic role.
Regardless, the Minister confirmed on Thursday that he was how heading to South Africa, as his new posting, but quickly asserted that it was not out of rejection by Germany, but out of his own preference to serve in Africa rather than Europe where he had lived for a long time.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Tuesday, called out the Federal Government of attempting to destabilise the party following Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s defection, alleging pressure on Joash Ojo Amupitan, INEC Chairman, to interfere in its leadership.
Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, who made the allegation in a statement, detailed how a March 28 letter by some Senior Advocates, purportedly representing an expelled member of the party, is being used to push INEC to invalidate party actions and alter its structure before the court rules.
Stressing that part of the grand plan to destabilise the only viable opposition party left in the country was to use the electoral commission to cause havoc, over a matter that was in court, the party promised to resist it using all constitutional means,
The full statement reads:
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has observed a coordinated attempt to pressure the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN), and destabilise the David Mark-led leadership of the party.
The decision of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso to join our party has understandably sent jitters through the ruling party. Since then, top officials within the Federal Government have renewed their onslaught against our party, in a bid to discourage other high-profile figures.
This conspiracy is centred on a legal dispute that is now being pushed beyond the courtroom. In a letter dated March 28, 2026, a team of Senior Advocates of Nigeria is asking INEC to enforce a curious and peculiar interpretation of a Court of Appeal ruling regarding what constitutes “status quo ante bellum.”
In the said letter, the writers even went ahead to threaten the INEC chairman with arrest if he does not grant their request within seven days. They want INEC to invalidate party meetings, remove recognised officials, and hand over the affairs of the party to a specific individual, even though the case itself has not been fully decided by the courts. Obviously, what the authors of this vexatious letter are attempting to do is to pressure INEC to take sides and grant them what no court in Nigeria has granted.
For the avoidance of doubt, Hon. Nafiu Bala Gombe, who is claiming to be aggrieved over the ADC leadership, was never the Chairman of the ADC. And, perhaps more significantly, Nafiu Gombe had earlier resigned his position alongside other members of the National Working Committee. He has also since been expelled from the party. Therefore, any attempt to recreate a “status quo” that upgrades his position to National Chairman of the ADC at any point in time is, at best, fictitious.
What we are witnessing is a convergence of legal pressure and political intent by a ruling party that is unsettled by the growing appeal of the ADC. But Nigerians can see what is happening.
No amount of pressure, no manufactured confusion, and no distortion of legal processes will stop what is already in motion. The ADC is growing. Nigerians are joining. A credible opposition is taking shape.
We call on INEC to remain guided by the Constitution, resist all forms of pressure, and uphold its duty as an impartial umpire.
This is bigger than the ADC. It is about whether Nigerians can freely choose a different path. And that must not be compromised.
In the early hours of Monday, January 26, 2026, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, stormed Onitsha Main Market, reputed to be the biggest enclave for trading and other commercial activities in West Africa, on what he called on-the-spot assessment.
It was a military-style display, reminiscent of the Muhammadu Buhari-Tunde Idiagbon, best-forgotten taskforce days, when soldiers, without warning swooped on markets, broke into their owner’s shops and practically sold available goods to the public at giveaway prices – many their cronies, in the guise of forcing their Essential Commodities policy.
In like manner there and then, the governor ordered the immediate closure of the market after accusing the traders of harbouring criminal intents and engaging in economic sabotage that costs the state a whopping N8billion in lost revenues. To boot, he even warned not only to close the market on a permanent basis, but if need be, even bulldoze it to the ground, should the traders remained recalcitrant in their decision.
Hear him: “Each Monday, we’ll come and inspect. If people are not in their respective shops, it will be shut down again. If you like I don’t mind shutting down this Main Market for the remainder of this year. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere and trade, but if you’re here, we’re not going to allow this plain economic sabotage. Also, we suspect whoever closes their shops to have some criminal intents.”
From the outset, we must state that what the world saw in that spontaneous encounter and subsequent days as the issues therein remained on the front burner, has little place in democracy, neither does it reflect sound, people-oriented leadership under the ethos of what has now been accepted across the globe as the best form of government.
Now, the last time we checked, Soludo is neither a military General nor even a soldier, but a highly-decorated academic, whose influence in the knowledge industry spans beyond education institutions, government – he was formally Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – to international reckoning – consulting for some of the highest global bodies, including the United Nations.
Now, how does this selfsame global icon, reduce himself to a local dictator, dishing out orders as in regimental commands rather than employing that power of persuasion, which distinguishes brainpower – the emblematic factor of his training from raw strength of dictators in the gun business?
How does it fit? Do concepts like immediate effect and automatic alacrity form part of the recommendations Soludo makes to those global institutions he consulted for? Certainly no! So, why introduce them as his own governance template? That is the confusing, if not the disturbing part.
Is it not becoming clearer now? Is this military-style tendency not finding expression in the audacity captured in that ghoulish spectacle last year, where one Jennifer Elohor Edema, the young lady serving Nigeria under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, was stripped down to her birthday suit by some youths, visibly inebriated on influences of some brain-damaging substances, who were working for Soludo’s government?
By the way, when last did anyone hear anything about those criminals, outside the initial apparent crocodile tears at government places in Awka? Has anyone heard of any form of punishment? Have they been arraigned in court? If yes, what is the state of the trial?
In the instant case, we particularly detest the governor’s attempt to feign ignorance of the issues behind the conduct of the traders or his efforts to bury them under the veneer of righteous anger. To so do is deceitful, arrogant, if not self-serving – elements that seem to have, so unfortunately, formed part of the governance structure in Anambra State, as in most other states across the country, including the central government.
The issue here, if Soludo needs be reminded, is about the fate of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), currently serving life sentence at a facility in Sokoto, to where he was sent by Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Of course, the governor was right in claiming that the dangerous security situation in the state has changed for the better and that Anambra is no longer the killing field it was until recently. Obviously, the blood-thirsty terrorists responsible for the carnages witnessed in the state, including those ostensibly aimed at enforcement of the sit at home orders, seem to be on holiday and from the look of things are no longer returning.
So, if the governor says security or insecurity of the traders is no longer the big issue, he has a foundation to so state. At least for the first time in recent years, Christmas was celebrated in the entire Igboland with the usual fanfare under the robust atmosphere devoid of fear. That alone gives credence to the extent of these changes.
But that is not the end of the story. Kanu’s fresh ordeal seems to have introduced a new chapter to the entire saga. Now, the current sit-at-home option appears no longer out of fear of being attacked or killed, but the willingness of the traders to donate every Monday, in solidarity with the IPOB leader. This was evident in the Tuesday demonstration, where the message of the traders who thronged the streets of Onitsha, was clearly delivered with renditions like – Nnamdi Kanu is another saviour.
Therefore, Soludo, must be a complete novice or pathologically naïve to claim he is not aware of this new sentiment. But he is neither of the two. There is no way the governor would not have been seized of the compelling emotions around him.
So, for him to put up that show on Monday, is nothing but a gambit tailored towards gaslighting the public. His feigned anger against the traders for not opening their shops is as manipulative as it is deceitful, just as argument thereto regarding the economy implications is as puerile as it is spurious.
It is demonstrative of lack of emotional intelligence, as it showcases the absence of the required synergy between the government and the people, a phenomenon that has become characteristic in the South East in recent years, where a huge gulf and trust deficit exist between the people and those who lead them.
It is indeed laughable when South East governors, including Soludo, lay claims to the current calm in Igboland, when on the contrary, many of them are accused of being collaborators, either as active agents of being complicit through their conspiracy of silence.
Who does not know that the late President Muhammadu Buhari, was the vector that transported that killer disease to Igboland? Dan Nwanyanwu, National Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), has remained relentless in establishing this fact most pungently in the past and even quite recently.
Soludo, in his chest-beating mode, gives the impression that he somehow sprung a genie out of the magic lamp to create a sudden miracle that turned the parlous security situation around. No! It was the death of Buhari that ended the blitzkrieg in the South East. Simplicita!
Where was this genie when during the Buhari days, when the Aguata Local Government headquarters, where he comes from was razed to the ground or when a swathe of Ihiala and adjoining areas in the state became a hunting ground for the rampaging terrorists, codenamed Unknown Gunmen.
He was only content in the open and shut attitude of dismissing the carnage they wrought as the handiwork of Kanu’s Eastern Security Network (ESN), even when the group swore on their father’s grave that they were not involved.
Indeed, if there is ever going to be anything good in the government of President Bola Tinubu, it is the fact that he is not as hungry for the blood of the Igbo man as Buhari, who never hid the fact of his desire to continue the civil war against Ndigbo, more than 50 years after.
Had Tinubu, who upped the ante in the marginalisation of Ndigbo in many ways, escalated this penchant by toeing the line as part of his continuation of the Buhari legacy, which he promised Nigerians, he might have renewed the military contract Asari Dokubo claimed to have with Buhari.
Yes, though he never revealed details of the so-called contract, its nature could be gleaned from the manner the people were dying wotowotowoto, as the Niger Delta warlord, himself gloated about some years back.
He even backed his gloating up in that viral video, with a display of an AK-47, boasting how he would use the weapon to cure Ndigbo their “madness.” Is it not surprising that in all his public comments, neither Soludo nor his South East colleagues ever mentioned this obvious threat to his people.
So, nobody is deceived by the governor acting like Idi Amin of Uganda, who went berserk because he could not get more money printed from his central bank. Nobody is moved by his threat to even bulldoze that market. He is only being clever by half, if not acting a script.
It does not remove the fact that he and his colleagues suddenly went mute, then and now and remained tongue-tied at a historic moment when Ndigbo are battling to extricate themselves from the soggy, foggy, belly of the whale, like the biblical Jonah, as they are in Nigeria today. It does not belittle the fact that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a metaphor for that horrible situation.
It is even worse that Soludo, arguably the most intellectually-gifted governor in Nigeria today, would be introducing some ethnic, sectional or indigene-based sentiments into the matter by trumpeting that those pursing the sit at home drive are not from Anambra. What a shame!
Who cares? Instead of such obtuse, infantile, if not asinine suggestion, would it not be more apposite for him to conduct a census in the entire Anambra, Aguata, his local government, Isuofia, his community and even the Soludo family to determine the number of Igbo people that are happy with the fate of not only Kanu, but Ndigbo in the hands of his friends in high authority today?
We hear that the traders have caved in. So, by Monday, expectedly, they would return to their shops – though definitely against their will. Soludo, would have scored another point and proven himself a strong man. But is it not a crab that makes itself king in shallow waters? Times shall tell!
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