By: Ganiyu Olayinka
Rights activist Aisha Yesufu, a vocal backer of Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) 2027 presidential hopeful Peter Obi, says she’s grown frustrated with what she sees as the repetitive nature of the former Anambra governor’s media appearances, arguing they’ve stopped offering anything new to public conversation.
In a video posted to her X account, Yesufu said she came away irritated after watching Obi’s latest sit-down with Channels Television, pointing out that the same handful of topics keep resurfacing in his interviews while Nigeria’s other presidential contenders face comparatively little media scrutiny. She noted that interviews with Obi usually leave her eager to hear his take on the issues, but this time that anticipation gave way to irritation, since the conversation felt like a rehash of ground already covered.
Yesufu said she went into the interview hoping for fresh insight but came away feeling that virtually every question the host raised had already been asked of Obi before. Where she’d typically be able to pull out one or two new talking points from his interviews to discuss afterward, she said this one offered nothing she hadn’t already heard.
She went on to argue that Obi keeps being pressed for detailed answers on insecurity, the economy, and governance, while other political figures aren’t held to the same standard of public accountability. In particular, she singled out President Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose 2023 election win she characterized as illegitimate as someone who, in her view, has largely avoided tough on-camera questioning and public scrutiny altogether, even as demands on Obi to explain his positions keep mounting. Her broader complaint wasn’t with the volume of questions put to Obi, she clarified, but with their lack of variety she said what she’d like to see going forward are interviews that push into new territory rather than circling back to the same talking points.