The national secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Ikenna Enekweizu has said Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the party, wanted his ally Aisha Yesufu to contest for the AMAC/Gwari house of representatives seat, not the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) senate position.
Enekweizu spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Wednesday.
He said discussions between Obi and the party leadership centred on building consensus around the AMAC/Gwari house of representatives ticket after the former governor of Anambra joined the party.
“When Peter Obi joined the party, part of what we wanted to do with him was to allow him help us build consensus on who will be the candidate of the party for the AMAC/Gwari seat,” he said.
“He told me personally that he wanted Aisha Yesufu to run for the house of representatives seat of AMAC/Gwari.
“But two or three days after he said this to me, I was surprised to read on social media that Aisha is running for senate. We didn’t discuss that.”
The NDC secretary said the party subsequently embarked on internal consultations while attempting to persuade Yesufu to run for the lower legislative seat.
“The national leader of the party invited Aisha Yesufu, met with her twice, appealing to her to run for the house of representatives,” he said.
“But Aisha said she was bigger than the reps office. She said she wanted to be a senator and nothing would stop her from going to the senate. So we allowed her to run.”
He added that Yesufu lost the primary election and should utilise the party’s internal mechanisms if she has grievances.
“Aisha Yesufu lost the primary election. If she feels aggrieved, a lot of people who also lost the primaries in other constituencies have been reaching out to us,” he said.
Enekweizu also dismissed suggestions that Yesufu was singled out, noting that several Obi supporters contested for the same ticket.
“She’s not the only supporter of Peter Obi that ran for AMAC/Gwari. Twenty-three aspirants bought the expression of interest and nomination form. How do we manage them all?” he asked.
According to him, the party has the constitutional power to determine who flies its flag for any particular office in an election.
