Aisha Yesufu, a social critic and strong supporter of Peter Obi, Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate in the 2023 general elections, has rejected the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) which upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu.
She spoke in a ‘Mic On’ podcast titled, ‘The PEPC Judgment: Hopes met or dashed’ hosted by Channels TV presenter, Seun Okinbaloye.
The co-founder of #BringBackOurGirls said she would never accept Tinubu as her president because he “rigged his way” to Aso Rock.
Last Wednesday, a five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the petitions brought before it by the opposition.
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The three political parties that challenged the president’s victory were the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party, and the Allied Peoples Movement.
Reacting to the ruling, Yesufu said it was a film acted by the justices.
She said: “Tinubu did not win the 2023 presidential election and will never be my president because he rigged his way to be declared the one with the majority votes. And as for me, that is a political coup. That is a civilian coup and it is the mandate of the people that was stolen. My focus and other Nigerians now is to ensure getting the mandate back.
“I stayed for over 13 hours in the court and I heard all the judgement read by the justices. It was all a movie.
“And there was a trailer before the movie, it began when the former Supreme Court justice, Mary Odili spoke. It already preempted what we expected.”
She further said that the whole exercise started getting fishy when PEPC declined that the proceedings be aired live from the beginning until the judgment day and failed to show the faces of the justices.
“There was a need for people to see how it has been going rather than just hearing the judgment only.
“The joy in the faces of the judges showed that they were biased. They acted more like counsels to the respondents (President Tinubu, All Progressives Congress and VP Kashim Shettima).
“The politicians always believe that they control the court, that is why they are quick to tell people to go to court if they are satisfied with the results of elections,” she alleged.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and his LP counterpart, Peter Obi, have instructed their lawyers to appeal the judgement of the PEPC at the Supreme Court.
The duo spoke last Thursday on different occasions.
Addressing a press conference at the PDP National Headquarters in Abuja, Atiku said his decision to approach the apex court became necessary because the judgement was “bereft of substantial justice.”
Obi who spoke in Onitsha, Anambra State, vowed to challenge the judgement, describing it as unjust. While stating his respect for the tribunal’s views and rulings, the former Anambra State governor disagreed with the “reasoning and conclusions in the judgement.”
