The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the election victory of President Bola Tinubu, affirming his position as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
This verdict reached on Thursday brought an end to a series of appeals filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, along with their respective parties.
The appellants had initially sought to challenge the dismissal of their petitions by the Presidential Election Petition Court on September 6.
The crux of the matter revolved around the declaration of Tinubu as the victor of the February presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku and Obi, in their appeals, contested the INEC declaration and its impact on the electoral outcome.
However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the appeals for lack of merit. The judgment rendered by the Presidential Election Petition Court, which had earlier dismissed the petitions for the same reason, was thereby upheld.
Presiding over the panel, Justice John Okoro emphasized that the failure of INEC to transmit results did not affect the overall election results.
This critical point underscored the court’s conclusion that the appeals lacked substantive merit and, as such, should not alter the outcome of the presidential election.
With this ruling, President Bola Tinubu’s election victory stands affirmed, marking the end of a legal battle that has reverberated throughout the nation’s political landscape.
The decision reinforces the importance of due process and adherence to electoral laws in Nigeria’s democratic system.