Supreme Court Of Nigeria Dismisses Atiku Abubakar And Peter Obi’s Appeal, Upholds Tinubu’s Presidential Victory

In a somewhat expected decision, the Nigerian Supreme Court Thursday upheld the decision of the Presidential Election court and dismissed the appeals brought by the opposition parties  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidates, Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi challenging the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All-Progressives Congress in the February 2023 polls.

The unanimous judgement was read by Justice Inyang Okoro who heads the seven-member panel of justices.

The Supreme Court session started at 9.00 a.m.

The two appellants, Abubakar and Obi in separate applications prayed the apex court to dismiss and set aside the September 6 judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which affirmed the electoral victory of President Tinubu.

But the supreme court justice did not agree. “On the whole“, Justice Inyang said, “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.

“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.”

Request for admittance of new evidence of forgery turned down

In an application by Atiku Abubakar requesting the court to admit new evidence it provided from an Illinois court depicting the President Tinubu as having forged his Chicago State University certificate which he presented to the electoral umpire, INEC, the justices refused saying the election petition was timebound and the appellant’s application was out of time.

“The 180 days imposed for hearing of election petitions is immutable and cannot be extended,” Justice Okoro pronounced putting to rest the vexatious battle for the Chicago State University Registrar, Caleb Westberg‘s deposition which seems to have damning and irrefutable evidence of forgery and could have constitutionally disqualified the President from office if admitted.

“Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to adopt PDP’s new evidence” – Justice Inyang

Justice Inyang said, “My noble lords, I have taken time to state the law on the issue to show the futility of this motion. It cannot be granted. The jurisdiction of this court is donated by the constitution and the Electoral Act regarding election petition appeals. We do not have the variance to admit this deposition, and we cannot invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act, since the lower court has since lost its jurisdiction”.

More tellingly, he accused the appellant’s lawyers of incompetence in presenting their case saying, “Moreso, there is no paragraph in the petition to accommodate a case for forgery.”

Electronic transfer of results to IReV

The apex court also decided that failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to electronically transmit the election results to IReV portal was not fatal to the election result. does not affect the collation.

The Electoral Act, the Judge said, gave INEC powers to determine the mode of transmission of election results.

He said the unavailability of election results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) could not be sufficient grounds to annul the election.

“Failure of IReV does not stop the collation of results”. – Justice Inyang

“I agree with the lower court that the failure of INEC to electronically transmit the results does not affect the collation of results,” Justice Okoro said while admitting that IReV not functioning could affect the trust of the electorates in the election.

25% of FCT not a requirement

The Supreme Court also agreed with the Court of Appeal that the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is no different from the other states and makes no difference in the results.

Justice Okoro asked, “Are you saying if someone scores 25% votes in 30 states but not in Abuja, he should not be president? Is that how you interpret the law?

“That is not the law. Supreme Court agrees with the Court of Appeal,” he added.

This judgement was notwithstanding previous Supreme Court judgements which held that at least 25% of votes in the FCT was a requirement to be elected president of Nigeria.

Congratulations pour in for Tinubu

Immediately after the verdict, aides of the president were seen swirling around the presidential office to congratulate the President. Most were heard saying #YourJobIsSecure. An impassionate president sat relaxed and calmly acknowledged.

But elsewhere, disappointment and despair at the failure of the system to provide what opposition thought was a deserved justice by annulling the election.

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