‘I Don’t Do Appointees’: Aisha Yesufu Claps Back at Wike After FCT Senate Ticket Loss.

Aisha Yesufu Fires Back at Wike Over NDC Ticket Mockery: ‘You Celebrate My Loss While Nigerians Lose Everything’

The war of words between activist-turned-politician Aisha Yesufu and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike escalated this weekend after Wike mocked her failed bid for the Nigeria Democratic Congress senatorial ticket.

Yesufu, who dumped the ADC for the NDC in early May to contest the FCT Senate seat in 2027, had her ambition cut short on Friday when the party announced it would not conduct primaries for the ticket. Hours later, she accused the NDC of breaching the Electoral Act and subverting the process to hand the slot to rival aspirant Amanda Pam.

Speaking at a luncheon in Port Harcourt on Saturday, the FCT Minister ridiculed Yesufu’s earlier claim that he wasn’t a factor in her race. “There’s one woman who said Wike is an appointee... Ordinary primary of NDC, not APC or PDP, just ordinary NDC, what happened? She didn’t make it,” Wike said to laughter from his audience.

“She said she’s not in the business of appointees. But ordinary NDC ticket, she couldn’t get. You’re telling us about the mandate of the people? Start with your party first.”

Yesufu hit back within hours. In a statement released Friday night and amplified on Sunday, she refused to engage Wike directly but doubled down on her stance that appointees like him aren’t her competition.

“I don’t have a Wike to contend with because that’s an appointee,” she had said days earlier on Channels TV’s _Sunday Politics_. “I’m in the business of looking for the mandate of the people. Wike is an appointee; I have no business with appointees.”

After the NDC shut down her bid, she told supporters: “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.”

“But I made a decision going in: I would not compromise my values. I would stand for what is right. I did not leave advocacy to go into politics. I took advocacy into politics.”

Yesufu joined the NDC on May 6, following Peter Obi’s defection to the party. She said her move was about “honouring the promise” to support Obi’s leadership and declared for FCT Senate the same day.

But trouble started almost immediately. Speculation grew that the party had already resolved to give the ticket to Amanda Pam, a long-time NDC member. On Friday, the party confirmed it would not hold primaries for the FCT seat, effectively ending Yesufu’s run.

She called it a breach of electoral guidelines. “The process leading to the emergence of the party’s candidate was marred by injustice,” she said, adding that her _SAY-Nation_ grassroots movement had “altered the course of the party’s decision-making process” and threatened entrenched interests.

This isn’t the first clash. Wike has repeatedly dismissed Yesufu’s brand of activism as “social media politics.” Yesufu has framed Wike as the symbol of the patronage system she’s running against.

Her comment that she had “no Wike to contend with” was a direct swipe at his appointed role versus her plan to seek an elected mandate. Wike’s counter was blunt: if you can’t win a minor party ticket, how do you win Abuja?

Yesufu’s allies argue the NDC was never a level field. “She joined three weeks ago. The structure was already locked down,” one campaign source said. “She exposed the rot. That’s why they’re celebrating.”

For now, Yesufu says she’s staying with the NDC and Obi’s project. She urged supporters not to be distracted: “Focus on the bigger picture, which is the presidential election. Nigeria will be okay.”

She also noted she would have faced incumbent Senator Ireti Kingibe and former Senate Minority Leader Philip Aduda if she’d won the ticket. That fight is over before it began.

Wike’s camp is framing this as proof that “Twitter noise” doesn’t translate to political structure. Yesufu’s camp is framing it as proof that the system blocks reformers by design.

Both sides are using this as a proxy war for 2027. Wike is a key Tinubu ally and de facto APC point man in the FCT. Yesufu is one of Obi’s most vocal surrogates. Her losing the ticket doesn’t end that fight — it reframes it.

As Yesufu put it: “You celebrate my ticket loss. Nigerians are losing hospitals, schools, security, everything. Who’s really losing?”

Wike hasn’t responded to her latest statement. But if history is a guide, he will.

The FCT Senate race just lost one of its loudest voices. The Wike-Yesufu feud just gained more fuel.