Aisha Yesufu

Aisha Somtochukwu Yesufu (born 12 December 1973), is a Nigerian political activist and businesswoman. She is the co-founder of #BringBackOurGirls movement, which brought attention to the abduction of over 200 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria on the 14th of April, 2014, by the terrorist group Boko Haram. She has also been prominently involved in the End SARS movement against police brutality in Nigeria.

Early life and education

Aisha Somtochukwu Yesufu was born and raised in Kano State, from Agbede in Edo State. She experienced the difficulties of being a girl in a heavily patriarchal environment. By the time she was 11 years old, she had no female friends left, as they had all either gotten married or died in childbirth. And by the time she married at 24, most of her remaining friends were nearing grandmother status. She says her love of books helped her during childhood, reading made her realize "there was a world beyond the ghetto that I was growing up in… and I wanted that life". She applied to the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1991, but was rejected because of her gender (she was a woman). In 1992, she was initially admitted to Usmanu Danfodiyo University, however, after the school closed she enrolled at Ahmadu Bello University to study medicine. Yesufu later left Ahmadu Bello University as well, after the school was shut down following the killing of a professor in 1994. She ultimately completed her education at Bayero University Kano, from which she graduated with a degree in microbiology.

Activism

Njideka Agbo wrote of Yesufu in ''The Guardian'' in 2019, "Often maligned for her stance on national issues in Nigeria by pro-government voices, she is not a run-of-the-mill activist. Her penchant for naming names has earned her truckloads of enemies, and perhaps, admirers".

#BringBackOurGirls

After the terrorist group, Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls in 2014, Yesufu and Oby Ezekwesili co-founded the #BringBackOurGirls movement to push for their rescue. Yesufu was among the women protestors who marched on the Nigerian National Assembly, in the nation's capital, Abuja, on 30 April 2014.

End SARS

Yesufu has been a prominent member of the End SARS movement, which began in 2017 and draws attention to police brutality in Nigeria and draws its name from a controversial police unit in the Nigeria Police Force called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). A photograph of her wearing hijab at an End SARS protest became an iconic symbol of the movement. Yesufu has said of the End SARS protests, "I will not be an irresponsible parent and leave this fight for my children. I am ready to sacrifice my life for my children to live. I brought them to this world, and I need to fix the world I put them in."

Awards

Yesufu was among BBC's 100 Women in 2020. Yesufu was included in a list of the Top 100 Most Influential Africans by ''New African'' magazine in 2020. In 2023, Reputation Poll International (RPI) named Aisha Yesufu as one of the 14 Nigerians who made the list of '100 most reputable Africans'. She was also included in the list of the 50 Most Impactful Voices List to mark 2023 International Women’s Day. Additional Yesufu has won the Martin Luther King Award.

Personal life

Yesufu married her husband, Aliu Osigwe Yesufu, in 1998. They have two children, Amir and Alliyyah.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yesufu, Aisha
1973 births
Ahmadu Bello University alumni
Bayero University Kano alumni
End SARS activists
Living people
Nigerian businesspeople
Nigerian human rights activists
Nigerian microbiologists
Nigerian Muslim activists
Nigerian women activists
People from Edo State
Businesspeople from Kano
Usmanu Danfodiyo University alumni