Nigeria’s apex court, the Supreme Court, upheld President Bola Tinubu’s election victory on Thursday, bringing to an end a legal challenge presented by his two main rivals, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. They argued that his victory was marred by irregularities.
The apex court ruling will give the 71-year-old Bola Ahmed Tinubu a clear mandate to govern Africa’s most populous nation, which is grappling with double-digit inflation, foreign currency shortages, a weakening naira, widespread insecurity, multi-dimensional and crude oil theft.
Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after almost three decades of nearly uninterrupted military rule. However, accusations of ballot-rigging and fraud have persisted throughout its electoral cycles.
The judgment, rendered by a panel of seven Supreme Court judges, is final. This ruling follows a consistent pattern seen in previous presidential elections that have been legally contested. None of the attempts to overturn election results through the courts have met with success.
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In the February vote, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party secured second and third places, respectively. However, they rejected the election’s outcome and called for President Bola Tinubu’s victory to be annulled.
These opposition leaders had appealed a September 6th tribunal judgment that had upheld Tinubu’s victory. In their appeal, they argued that the electoral commission failed to electronically transmit results from polling stations to an online portal, thereby undermining the results’ authenticity. They also contended that Tinubu had garnered less than 25% of the vote in the federal capital, Abuja, which they claimed did not meet the legal threshold for becoming president.
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The judges dismissed all these arguments. Supreme Court judge John Okoro stated, “There is no merit in this appeal, and it is hereby dismissed.”
The court also rejected Atiku’s attempt to introduce new evidence alleging that Tinubu had submitted a forged university certificate to the electoral agency. Tinubu had denied these allegations.
