- Safiu Kehinde
Popular Nigerian activist, Aisha Yesufu, has formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC), receiving the party’s membership card as she pledged her support for the emergence of Peter Obi as the party’s presidential candidate.
Yesufu announced her registration with the party in a statement issued on her official X handle on Wednesday.
The #BringBackOurGirls Movement convener claimed to have redeemed her pledge to join the ADC following Peter Obi’s defection to the party.
NPO Reported that Obi who contested for the 2023 Presidential election under the Labour Party joined the ADC on the 31st of December 2025 in Enugu state.
Yesufu who attended the event had in her address hinted the possibility of her joining the party and becoming a card-carrying member for the first time.
While reflecting on her years of activism in the statement issued today, Yesufu claimed to have realised only politics can influence decision-making process which prompted her engagement in political campaigns.
“By 2018, four years into the demands for #ChibokGirls I realised something clearly: everything leads back to politics. Politics determine who governs us. Politics decides whether we have good governance, or we suffer and if we refuse to participate in politics, we leave our lives at the mercy of people who were never meant to lead in the first place.
“That was when, for the first time, I joined the campaign of a presidential candidate. I was part of the campaign team of Dr. Oby Ezekwesili who has been my aunt and my mentor.
“I walked the length and breadth of Nigeria, speaking to people with her and other well-meaning Nigerians. We had done the #RedCardMovement before she joined the race, reminding Nigerians that they had the choice, capacity, and power to choose from other than just two political parties.
“In 2022, I was again in the campaign of a presidential candidate, Mr.Peter Obi. You all saw how it played out On the 31st of December 2025, Mr. Peter Obi officially came with his allies, friends, and supporters and declared for ADC.
“That day, I told him something very simple and very clear: I have never been a card-carrying member of any political party, but because my leader has called, I would become a card-carrying member of ADC.
“Today, I am here to redeem that pledge. I have picked my ADC membership card. Let me speak to every Nigerian listening to me. We are at a moment where our country needs us.” She said.
While admitting her initial fear about partisan politics, Yesufu expressed her readiness to be fully engaged in political affairs as she talked down claims of politics being a dirty game.
“When I told you earlier that I am afraid, I was not joking. I am truly afraid. I love my voice. I own my voice. I say things the way I choose, when I choose and how I choose.
“But I had to ask myself a hard question: Is refusing to join a political party, refusing to be where decisions are made, refusing to influence who become flag bearers of political parties, acceptable?
“Is it about me, or is it about Nigeria? If I truly believe in Nigeria, if I truly believe that this country should be a place where the child of nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody, then I must step in. I must put my hat in the ring.