Popular activist and member of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Aisha Yesufu, has slammed the party’s national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, accusing him of appearing “insecure” and acting as though he was in competition with the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Yesufu said this in a post on X on Thursday, responding to comments Dickson made during an ARISE NEWS interview where he defended the party’s leadership and replied to criticism from some Obi supporters after the NDC primaries.

She said she found part of the interview “painfully appalling” to watch, arguing that Dickson’s first major media appearance after the primaries should have been used to reassure party members and promote the party’s candidates ahead of 2027.

“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.

“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.”

Yesufu also rejected Dickson’s suggestion that some party members may have broken internal rules because of their popularity.

She said she would respond to that claim fully later, but maintained that she followed the party’s process during the primaries and even held back when Dickson said there would be no Senate primaries.

“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 added that she visited parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to calm supporters who felt disrespected over primaries that did not hold.

Yesufu also said Dickson seemed to see the NDC as a party whose job was done once it got registered, rather than one focused on winning the 2027 elections.

“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 stressed that his main job in that interview should have been to calm aggrieved aspirants and encourage supporters to stay with the party.

“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!”

Yesufu added that nobody was questioning Dickson’s leadership, and that the party needed to focus on winning in 2027 and fixing Nigeria’s problems.

“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 said.

Tribune Online reports that Dickson had earlier defended the NDC against what he called counterproductive attacks from some Obi supporters and said the party remained united despite disagreements from the recent primaries. (Nigerian Tribune)