Bayo Onanuga, media aide to President Bola Tinubu, who labelled Igbos of South-East extraction “existential threats” to Yoruba and called for their outright exclusion from Lagos politics, has dismissed Peter Obi’s criticisms of the Supreme Court judgement affirming Mr Tinubu’s victory, accusing the Labour Party candidate of spreading hate during last election.  

  Mr Obi, in a press conference on Monday, described the apex court’s judgement as appalling while condemning the Supreme Court for rejecting evidence of election rigging, certificate forgery and perjury to affirm Mr Tinubu’s victory.   

Reacting to Mr Obi’s criticisms of the Supreme Court’s judgement on Monday evening, Mr Onanuga accused Mr Obi of casting “aspersions on the Supreme Court and the Independent National Electoral Commission.”

   “Mr Obi claimed the Supreme Court justices didn’t consider public opinion in delivering what has been applauded as a most profound judgement in an election appeal where the Labour Party candidate presented the most watery and unreasonable petition before any court in the history of electoral cases in Nigeria. 

 “The grand delusion that made Mr Obi believe he could have won a national election where he ran the most hateful, divisive and polarising campaign that pitched Christians against Muslims and one ethnic group against the other in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria should be a matter for deeper examination,” Mr Onanuga said. 

  Mr Onanuga further said Mr Obi should support Mr Tinubu if he believes in Nigeria.  

 However, as a spokesperson for Mr Tinubu’s campaign team, Mr Onanuga pushed for the outright exclusion of Nigerians of Igbo extraction from Lagos political power, escalating ethnic controversies after the Lagos governorship election of March 18.  

“Let 2023 be the last time of Igbo interference in Lagos politics,” Mr Onanuga said, tweeting a photo of Peter Obi, an Igbo from Anambra State who backed Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, a Yoruba from Lagos, in the Saturday’s election. “Let there be no repeat in 2027.”  

 Criticised for his controversial and divisive ethnocentric statement, Mr Onanuga, in another tweet, doubled down on his toxic anti-Igbo statement.  

 “Let me make myself abundantly clear: the views I express on Twitter are my personal views. I don’t owe anyone any apology for addressing the existential threats of our people. I am, after all, first of all, a Yoruba before being a Nigerian,” he said.