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On Thursday, October 26, the Supreme Court affirmed President Bola Tinubu‘s win in the February 25 presidential election, dismissing appeals by opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
In September, the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja rejected opposition party petitions, including claims of fraud and violations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and doubts about Tinubu’s eligibility.
The seven-judge panel ruled that the opposition appeals, which alleged fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president, lacked merit. The court decisively rejected all grounds of appeal, including issues related to qualification, compliance with the Electoral Act, vote percentage in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and allegations of electoral malpractice.
According to Channels, Justice Inyang Okoro, in dismissing Atiku’s appeal, stated, “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.” He affirmed the court’s decision that Tinubu is the duly elected President of Nigeria. “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.”
The court also dismissed Obi’s appeal, which raised the issue of Tinubu’s alleged double nomination of Vice-President Kashim Shettima. The court held that this issue had already 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.
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.
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