By SCM Staff Writer
ABUJA – Following intense political speculation, frontline Federal Capital Territory (FCT) senatorial aspirant under the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Aisha Yesufu, has broken her silence on the outcome of the party’s primary election, declaring that she never withdrew from the race despite what she described as a heavily subverted process.
In a strongly-worded statement titled “On the Record: NDC Primaries… A Better Abuja Is Inevitable,” the advocate-turned-politician pushed back against rumors that she dropped out before the conclusion of the exercise.
She maintained that she stayed in the contest until the very end to honor the mandate of her supporters and the people of Abuja.
”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,” Aisha stated. “I share my truth because the people of Abuja deserve the truth.”
Detailing her foray into the political space, Aisha explained that her decision to run for the Senate under the #AishaforSenate2031 banner stems from a deep conviction that real structural transformation cannot happen from the sidelines.
”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 positions where decisions are made with the weight of the law,” she noted.
Aisha acknowledged that while she was fully aware of the systemic barriers resisting values-based candidates, she refused to compromise her principles. “I did not leave advocacy to go into politics. I took advocacy into politics,” she affirmed.
Reflecting on the conduct of the primary election, the senatorial hopeful described the exercise as a “predetermined outcome dressed in procedural formalities.”
She alleged that the party leadership repeatedly violated its own guidelines, postponed the exercise without justification, and shifted venues at the last minute to deliberately alienate ordinary members.
Crucially, Aisha accused the party of circumventing the popular will by swapping a direct primary system for a centralized, delegate-based process.
”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 revealed. “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.”
While acknowledging that the NDC has issued public statements painting the FCT primaries as free and fair, Aisha dismissed those claims, stating that the facts on the ground do not reflect justice, fairness, or the spirit of the Electoral Act.
Despite the alleged irregularities, Aisha Yesufu announced her decision not to approach the courts or exhaust her energy on the party’s internal grievance mechanisms, describing them as “designed to wear people down.”
Instead, she stated that she chose to treat the experience as an invaluable masterclass in the realities of party machinery.
“I now understand the architecture of the system in ways no textbook, no punditry, no amount of outside observation could ever teach. I leave this process with something far more valuable than a ticket; I leave with clarity.”
She, however, clarified that her experience was unique to the FCT senatorial race, choosing not to generalize or speak on how the NDC primaries were conducted in other states across the federation.
Reaffirming her commitment to the party ahead of the general elections, Aisha noted that despite its internal structural flaws, the NDC remains crucial for national rescue as it provided the platform for the nation’s preferred choice in the presidential race.
Warning establishment politicians that her grassroots structure remains intact, she emphasized that the network built by her volunteer team, the SAY-Nation, cannot be erased by a midnight elite consensus.
”This is not the end. What we built, the network, the credibility, the grassroots trust, cannot be taken away in a backroom. A better Abuja is inevitable,” she concluded.
To contextualize this news story for the Punch readership, the report builds on several critical dynamics shaping Nigerian politics:
The Rise of the NDC: The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has quickly transformed into a major opposition force, heavily driven by third-force political movements. It represents a vital alternative platform for structural reform, making its internal democracy a subject of intense national scrutiny.
The Primaries Conflict (Direct vs. Indirect): Under prevailing electoral framework guidelines, the choice of nomination scale remains a heated battleground.
Aisha’s grievance highlights a classic manipulation tactic in Nigerian party politics: moving the goalposts from decentralized direct primaries (where every card-carrying member votes at local government/ward levels) to an indirect/delegate system inside a single closed hall. Centralized delegate systems are notoriously prone to financial inducement, elite capture, and “clandestine affirmations.”
The #AishaforSenate2031 Vision: Aisha’s long-term timeline underscores a shifting strategy among younger, advocacy-driven technocrats who are building multi-cycle grassroots movements rather than treating elections as one-off events.
Her massive “SAY-Nation” volunteer network points to the growing role of non-traditional, citizen-led organizing in the FCT.
