The National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Yunusa Tanko, has been accused of using his influence to replace the winner of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) primary election for the Kawo Constituency seat in the Kaduna State House of Assembly with his son, Yunusa Muhammad Salisu.
The allegation has triggered a dispute within the NDC after documents reportedly obtained in connection with the party’s May 30, 2026 direct primary showed that Rakiya Asabe Nakorji emerged as the winner with 225 votes, defeating Yunusa Muhammad Salisu, who scored 132 votes.
However, despite the reported primary result, Yunusa Muhammad Salisu was subsequently published as the NDC candidate for the Kawo Constituency seat ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The development has led to allegations by sources within the party that Nakorji’s mandate was allegedly taken from her after she defeated Yunusa Tanko’s son in the primary.
According to one of the sources, Nakorji became aware of the alleged plan to substitute her name and took steps to preserve evidence of the primary election.
The source said Nakorji obtained certified true copies (CTCs) of relevant electoral documents, including the primary election results, while records of the exercise were also reportedly available on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.
“When it was time for the list to be released, the INEC list came out. Luckily for her, she got my CTC, so she has a copy of her CTC and the INEC portal records,” the source said.
“Some Obidients picked up interest in her case, and they have been fighting Tanko on her behalf.”
The source further alleged that Yunusa Tanko later instituted a ₦5 billion lawsuit against a woman who had been supporting Nakorji’s case.
“If I’m not mistaken, I think it was a week ago that Yunusa Tanko slammed that particular lady with a lawsuit. It was a ₦5 billion lawsuit, accusing her of fighting for Rakiya because she had some interest in the matter,” the source said.
The source said the lawsuit followed an earlier letter reportedly issued by 19 coordinators representing the 19 northern states.
“Before then, she received a letter from 19 coordinators from 19 northern states. In the letter, they accused her of challenging Tanko without having concrete evidence,” the source said.
“So they asked for the CTC and other documents. We did not send them those documents because we were not in a position to provide them. So that passed.”
“Then, a few days after that, they slammed her with a ₦5 billion lawsuit.”
Another source familiar with the matter said Nakorji directly contested the NDC primary against Yunusa Tanko’s son and won the exercise.
According to the source, the results were signed by INEC officials, the party’s returning officers and security personnel who were present during the election.
“Rakiya contested the primary election. She went head-to-head with Yunusa Tanko’s son during the primary election, which she won,” the source said.
“The results were signed by INEC, signed by the returning officers and the security personnel who were there.”
The source said Nakorji subsequently engaged several stakeholders within the party and was assured that, having won the primary, her name would be submitted to INEC as the party’s candidate.
“Because she was expecting, she had already finished having conversations with almost everybody in the party, and she was given an assurance that when the list came out, since she had won her primary election, there was no way INEC, or the party, would submit someone else’s name to INEC and then INEC would accept it,” the source said.
“They made her understand that INEC usually does not accept it if a party submits a different name from the person who emerged from its primary election.”
The source, however, said Nakorji discovered that her name was missing from the final list when it was published about three weeks before the report.
“So it was only when the list was released that she found out her name was not on it. That was three weeks ago,” the source said.
Following the development, Nakorji was reportedly advised by her lawyer to challenge the alleged substitution through the appropriate legal process.
“She was advised by her lawyer to file an election matter, which she did. She filed it on September 11,” the source said.
“After she filed it, she served the National Assembly, she served INEC, and then served Yunusa Tanko’s son.”
The source described the dispute as an issue involving the rights of an aspirant who emerges from a party primary to participate in the political process.
“Her right to participate and her right to expression, especially from a political point of view, have been violated, and that needs to be highlighted so that it does not happen to somebody else,” the source said.
Nakorji was also reportedly the first female aspirant to purchase the expression of interest form for the Kawo Constituency contest.
“She was the first female to buy her expression of interest form,” the source said.
“So, it’s not as if there was any good reason for what happened. She went and spent her own money to purchase the form.”
Documents reportedly obtained in connection with the controversy also appear to show that Nakorji was declared winner of the NDC primary.
One of the documents, identified as an electoral officer’s report, reportedly contains details of the primary election, including result sheets and other documents relating to the exercise.
According to the report, the NDC conducted a direct primary for the Kawo Constituency State House of Assembly seat in Kaduna North Local Government Area on May 30, 2026.
The electoral officer reportedly stated that the election was successfully conducted and that Rakiya Baba Mohammed emerged winner with 225 votes.
The report stated that the mode of election was direct primary and that “RAKIYA BABA MOHAMMED emerged winner with a total of Two hundred and twenty-five (225) votes.”
It also stated that the primary was peacefully conducted in accordance with the party’s guidelines and that the electoral officer’s report contained the agenda, list of electoral committee members, list of contestants, result sheets, party guidelines and checklists completed by monitors.
Another section of the document reportedly described the exercise as the NDC primary election to select the party’s flag bearer for the 2027 general election in the state.
It identified “Rakiya Asabe Nakorji” as the winner of the direct primary.
The reported result showed Nakorji with 225 votes, while Yunusa Muhammad Salisu, identified as Yunusa Tanko’s son and her opponent, scored 132 votes.
The controversy therefore centres on how Yunusa Muhammad Salisu subsequently came to be listed as the NDC candidate for the Kawo Constituency seat by INEC despite the primary documents reportedly identifying Nakorji as the winner.
Yunusa Tanko, however, denied the allegation that he hijacked the NDC ticket, insisting that he was not the contestant in the primary and that his son was the aspirant.
“I am not the contestant. The contestant is Mohammed Salisu Yunusa. He can talk for himself,” Yunusa Tanko said.
“Yes, he is my son, and I’m proud to own him as a son. But please contact him. However, for the records, please check your reports on this particular matter and you will see the reply of Mohammed Salisu.”
Yunusa Tanko also rejected the suggestion that he could personally hijack a party ticket, saying the NDC was an independent political organisation responsible for its own decisions.
“The party is alive. The party can answer for itself and defend itself. So, please, I can’t hijack any ticket. I can’t, because the party is an entity of its own,” he said.
“So, please check your records very well. I can’t hijack any party ticket.”
On the reported ₦5 billion lawsuit, Yunusa Tanko said he instituted the legal action because he believed his rights had been violated and his reputation defamed.
“That would be my right as an individual. My rights were infringed upon. My name was defamed, and even on Twitter Spaces, my lawyer took action, and people defended the interest of their own leader,” he said.
Yunusa Tanko challenged those behind the allegations to identify the statements they considered defamatory.
“So, please ask the person who sent you: What did she do? Did she defame Yusuf? Did she lie about him? Is it a false allegation against him on all platforms?” he said.
The NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, was also contacted over the apparent discrepancy between the reported primary result and the candidate subsequently published by INEC.
Director said he was not aware of the specific circumstances surrounding the Kawo case but explained that the NDC constitution provides an avenue through which aggrieved aspirants can challenge primary election results.
He said an aspirant could petition the party’s Appeals Committee and that, where such an appeal was considered and found to have merit, the committee could overturn the original result.
“I don’t have any information about what you are talking about. However, if you can give me the name of the party official who organised or supervised the election, I can speak to him directly, and he will be able to provide an answer to your question,” Director said.
He added that “under our constitution—the constitution of the NDC—after primary elections, there is room for an appeal. Aspirants or other parties who feel aggrieved can petition the Appeals Committee.”
According to him, a successful appeal could result in a change to the person initially declared winner.
“If the petition is considered on its merits and the committee finds that there is merit in the petition, it is possible for the result of the election to be overturned in favour of the petitioner. If that happens, it necessarily means there could be a change in the name of the person declared the winner,” he said.
Director, however, stressed that he could not confirm whether such an appeal took place in the Kawo Constituency case.
“So, I don’t know whether that is what happened in this case, but I am explaining the circumstances that can result in a situation where a person who was initially declared the winner of a primary is subsequently replaced by another person,” he said.
He gave the possibility that Yunusa Tanko’s son could have challenged the primary result through the party’s Appeals Committee and that such a petition, if upheld, could have resulted in the change.
“For instance, it is possible that you, Mr. Tanko, appealed to the Appeals Committee, and after considering the matter, the committee found merit in your appeal and overturned the result of the primary of Rakiya. So, I guess that may be what happened,” Director said.
The dispute has consequently left the central question of the Kawo NDC ticket unresolved in the accounts available: while the reported primary-election documents identify Nakorji as the winner with 225 votes, Yunusa Muhammad Salisu was subsequently listed as the party’s candidate, with the NDC publicity secretary unable to confirm whether an appeal or other formal process led to the change.