Aisha Yesufu, a prominent social critic and ardent supporter of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate in the 2023 general elections, has expressed her vehement disagreement with the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which upheld President Bola Tinubu’s victory.
Yesufu conveyed her stance during a ‘Mic On’ podcast titled, ‘The PEPC Judgment: Hopes Met or Dashed,’ hosted by Channels TV presenter Seun Okinbaloye.
The co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement firmly stated that she would never acknowledge President Tinubu as her leader because she believes he “rigged his way” to the Aso Rock presidency.
The PEPC, comprising a five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, recently dismissed petitions brought before it by three political parties challenging President Tinubu’s victory.
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These parties included the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party, and the Allied Peoples Movement.
In response to the court’s decision, Yesufu asserted that the entire proceedings resembled a scripted movie.
She remarked, “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 that of other Nigerians, now is to ensure getting the mandate back.”
Yesufu also revealed that she had spent over 13 hours in the courtroom, closely following all the judgments delivered by the justices, which she perceived as mere theatrics.
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She further expressed dissatisfaction with the decision of the PEPC not to broadcast the proceedings live from the beginning to the judgment day, which contributed to the lack of transparency in the process. Yesufu also claimed that the faces of the justices were never shown to the public.
“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),” she alleged.
Moreover, Yesufu criticized what she viewed as a belief among politicians that they control the courts, prompting them to advise dissatisfied individuals to seek legal redress in the event of disputed election results.
In the wake of the PEPC ruling, both the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and his LP counterpart, Peter Obi, have instructed their legal teams to appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court.
Addressing a press conference at the PDP National Headquarters in Abuja, Atiku cited the absence of substantial justice in the judgment as the basis for his decision to approach the apex court.
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Meanwhile, Peter Obi, speaking in Onitsha, Anambra State, expressed his intent to challenge the PEPC judgment, asserting that it was unjust and at odds with his understanding of the case’s merits.
While acknowledging his respect for the tribunal’s views and rulings, he voiced his disagreement with the “reasoning and conclusions in the judgment.”