Social activist Aisha Yesufu has announced that she will adopt a different strategy in supporting Peter Obi’s presidential bid ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general election, saying she will not repeat the nationwide campaign approach she used during the 2023 election.
Yesufu, one of the prominent supporters of Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign, explained that her role in the next election would focus more on organising voters, strengthening grassroots structures and protecting votes rather than travelling from state to state with the candidate.
During the 2023 election campaign, Yesufu was highly visible at Obi’s rallies and political engagements across the country. She said at the time that one of her major objectives was to challenge the perception that Obi’s candidacy was based on ethnicity or religion and to present him as a candidate capable of attracting support from Nigerians across different backgrounds.
According to her, that approach helped convince some Nigerians who initially believed Obi had little chance of mounting a serious presidential challenge. She said the experience also provided lessons that would shape her strategy for the 2027 contest.
For the upcoming election, Yesufu said she would concentrate on mobilisation and electoral protection. Rather than accompanying Obi around the country, she intends to help organise supporters who are willing to vote for him and ensure that their votes are properly protected throughout the electoral process.
Her strategy includes strengthening networks at polling units and ensuring that votes are monitored from the polling unit through the various stages of collation. The approach reflects a growing emphasis among opposition activists on election-day organisation rather than relying solely on large rallies and social media campaigns.
Yesufu’s position comes as political parties and movements intensify preparations for the 2027 presidential election. Obi is now campaigning as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, while several other opposition figures are also seeking to challenge President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The activist has remained a vocal supporter of Obi despite changes in the political landscape since 2023. Her decision to change her campaign strategy appears to reflect an assessment that securing victory will require more than generating enthusiasm around a candidate.
Instead, she is placing greater emphasis on converting political support into organised voters and ensuring that those voters remain engaged throughout the electoral process.
Her comments also come amid growing disagreements among opposition supporters, particularly between supporters of Obi and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. On Tuesday, Yesufu appealed to Atiku to call his supporters to order, alleging that some of them had been attacking Obi’s supporters on social media.
She urged opposition supporters to avoid internal hostility and concentrate on the broader objective of defeating the APC in 2027.
The development highlights the increasingly competitive nature of Nigeria’s opposition politics ahead of the election. While political alliances and candidate selection remain major issues, activists are also focusing on the practical mechanics of winning elections, including voter mobilisation, polling-unit organisation and vote protection.
For Yesufu, the lesson from 2023 appears to be that enthusiasm must be matched with organisation.
Her decision to remain behind the scenes rather than accompany Obi on a nationwide campaign tour could therefore signal a broader shift in the way some supporters of the NDC candidate intend to approach the 2027 election.
With political parties already laying the groundwork for the next presidential contest, Yesufu’s new strategy places grassroots organisation and protection of the ballot at the centre of her contribution to Obi’s campaign.
