Aisha Yesufu criticises a cash-sharing video involving Maryam Wadada, questioning political handouts amid the 2027 Nasarawa race
Human rights activist Aisha Yesufu has criticised a cash-sharing exercise involving Maryam Wadada, wife of Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Nasarawa State, after a video from an empowerment programme circulated online on 14 August 2026.
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The video appears to show Maryam Wadada distributing cash to attendees at the programme, prompting Yesufu to question why such gestures can attract stronger appreciation from beneficiaries than the public services Nigerians already finance through their personal income.
Yesufu addressed the development in a post on her official X account, comparing the cash being distributed with the much larger sums families routinely spend on school fees, rent and medical bills.
“You see this money the people there are receiving?” she wrote.
“They value it more than the hundreds of thousands you use to pay their children’s school fees, pay their rents and hospital bills.”
Yesufu then turned her criticism towards the wider political system, arguing that citizens may be indirectly enabling politicians to use relatively small cash distributions to win goodwill.
“Do you know that you are the ones subsidising governance for APC to do this freely without the people going after them?” she asked.
Her intervention has brought a familiar but sensitive issue back into focus: the place of cash and material assistance in Nigerian political mobilisation, particularly as politicians prepare for the 2027 elections.
The timing is significant in Nasarawa. Ahmed Wadada, who represents Nasarawa West in the Senate, has already secured the APC’s governorship ticket for the 2027 election.
He won the party’s governorship primary in May with 195,285 votes, defeating six other aspirants.
Wadada’s political journey has also made his current position noteworthy.
He previously left the APC and contested the 2023 Nasarawa West senatorial election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, defeating the APC candidate in what was regarded as a significant upset. He subsequently returned to the APC and registered with the party in January 2026.
Governor Abdullahi Sule had earlier publicly backed Wadada as his preferred successor, while Vice-President Kashim Shettima also expressed support for his candidacy during a May 2026 investment summit in Nasarawa.
Cash and material empowerment are not entirely new features of Wadada’s political activities. Earlier reports on his constituency programmes documented the distribution of cash grants, equipment, agricultural inputs and other forms of assistance to constituents.
One 2025 report said Wadada’s constituency interventions over an 18-month period included cash and material support, while previous empowerment programmes involved sewing machines, welding machines, farming equipment and cash grants.
Maryam Wadada has also maintained a public presence in community activities. In May 2025, the Keffi Youth Association recognised her for what it described as her contribution to grassroots leadership, peace-building and community development. ([Nasarawa Eye][5])
That background provides context to the latest video, although it does not establish the purpose, value or funding source of the particular cash distribution criticised by Yesufu.
Yesufu’s argument is less about the identity of the beneficiaries than about what the scene represents.
Her central concern is that citizens facing substantial costs for education, housing and healthcare can become grateful for short-term assistance while the underlying failures in public services remain unresolved.
The comments have consequently reopened a broader conversation about empowerment programmes.
Supporters of such initiatives often regard direct assistance as immediate relief for people facing difficult economic circumstances, while critics argue that sustainable public services and economic opportunities should not be replaced by episodic handouts.
There is also an important distinction between an empowerment programme and vote buying.
The video alone does not establish that the cash distributed was intended to influence voters, nor does Yesufu’s post provide evidence making that allegation.
What the episode does reveal is the powerful political and emotional effect of direct assistance in communities where household finances remain under pressure.
For Wadada, who is now preparing for a major electoral contest in 2027, such grassroots engagements are likely to remain an important part of his political outreach.
For Yesufu, however, the scene represents a troubling reminder that Nigerians may be compensating for shortcomings in governance while political actors receive credit for temporary relief.
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The debate is therefore likely to extend well beyond one video, touching on a persistent question in Nigerian politics: whether citizens should be receiving more direct assistance from political figures or demanding stronger institutions and public services that reduce the need for such assistance in the first place.
