The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday, confirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the presidential election that took place this year. The apex court dismissed the appeals by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart Peter Obi.
The opposition’s challenges over allegations of fraud, breaches of electoral law, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president were dismissed by a seven-judge panel as having no validity.
The top court rejected Atiku and the PDP’s appeals on the basis of qualification, breaking the Electoral Act, the 25% of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory, and electoral malpractices.
“On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the appellant, it is my view that there is no merit in the appeal and it is hereby dismissed,” Justice Inyang Okoro said in dismissing Atiku’s appeal.
“The judgment of the court below delivered on September 6th, 2023 affirming the election of the second respondent as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is hereby affirmed.”
It listened to Obi’s appeal for about five minutes. In dealing with the LP’s presidential candidate on the issue of double nomination of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, the court held that the issue had been dealt with in its ruling on May 26.
“As for issue Number 4 which has to do with double nomination which was not in Atiku’s appeal, it is the view of this court that this issue having been dealt with by this court, this court cannot allow the matter to be re-litigated in this very court. There must be an end to litigation,” Justice Okoro held.
“For us to sit down now and talk about when this man resigned or did not resign when they did fresh primaries to replace him which we have done before, we are not going to do this again.
“This matter ought not to have come in. When this matter was pending at the trial court, this court delivered that judgment. If you read the judgment of the lower court, they mentioned that the Supreme Court has settled this matter and that should have been the end.
“You now bring this issue of double nomination for us to sit on it and write another judgment, this is not how it should be. This appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed.”
The two primary opposition party petitions, which included accusations of fraud, INEC infractions, and Tinubu’s alleged failure to comply with constitutional requirements, were previously denied by an electoral appeals court last month.
In addition to its initial allegations, Atiku’s legal team attempted to present fresh proof, which purports to demonstrate that Tinubu provided the electoral commission with a falsified Chicago State University diploma as proof of eligibility when he filed to run for president.
After taking office in May with a platform of “Renewed Hope,” Tinubu has expeditiously instituted reforms that his administration claims would bolster the largest economy in Africa and draw in additional foreign capital.
