On the 26th of October 2023, the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart Peter Obi’s appeal challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.
The court upheld the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, confirming President Tinubu’s legitimacy as the elected President of Nigeria.
A seven-judge panel ruled as without merit the opposition appeals over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president.
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The Supreme Court, presided by Justice Inyang Okoro, ruled that INEC’s failure to electronically transmit the result of the 2023 presidential election to iRev did not affect the result of the election won by Bola Tinubu.
The Supreme Court has dismissed Atiku Abubakar’s fresh evidence of Bola Tinubu’s alleged Chicago State University forgery because it can’t rule on an application not already determined by the election petition tribunal.
The Supreme Court has just threw out the petition to cancel Bola Tinubu’s presidential election win because he didn’t win 25% of votes in the FCT.
“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 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.”
