60 Days
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Nigerians to know in 60 days if Bola Tinubu will be their president till 2027 after opposition parties file separate appeals at the Supreme Court
Nigeria’s two main opposition leaders on Tuesday filed separate appeals at the Supreme Court challenging a tribunal ruling that earlier this month upheld President Bola Tinubu’s victory in a disputed February election.
No legal challenge to the outcome of a presidential election has succeeded in Nigeria, which returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost uninterrupted military rule and has a history of electoral fraud.
Tinubu at a party
Abubakar Atiku, from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who came second in the election, said in a court filing that the tribunal erred in law “when it failed to nullify the presidential election … on the ground of non compliance” with the electoral law. He seeks nullification on 35 grounds.
Peter Obi seen as the opposition leader by youths ,who polled third in the presidential race, also filed his appeal, on 50 grounds at the Supreme Court against the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP) in their petition challenging the victory of Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election argued that the electoral body, INEC failed to transmit election results from the polling units to the collation centres electronically.
Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, the main opposition candidate in Nigeria’s presidential election, stands at a voting booth before casting a ballot at a polling station in Yola, Nigeria, February 25, 2023. REUTERS/Esa Alexander
However, the court on Wednesday, September 6 said the law does not require INEC to transmit results by electronic means.
The defendant is at liberty to decide how it would transmit election results, the court held.
The court also held that it was irrelevant that President Tinubu failed to score 25% of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states of the federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Obi and the LP prayed the court to declare him as the candidate that secured the majority of the lawful votes cast with the required constitutional spread of not less than 25% of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the states of the federation, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
But in its ruling, the court held that it was irrelevant.
It agreed with the argument of the respondent that “the FCT does not enjoy a special status, that Abuja is inhabited by Nigerians and that Abuja does not enjoy any special privilege.”
The Tribunal also ruled that the Labour Party and Obi failed to prove that Tinubu was convicted of money laundering in the United States.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners – Obi and the LP.
The petitioners had also argued that Tinubu was not legally qualified to contest the election, alleging that he was previously convicted and fined the sum of $460,000.00 by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483, for an offence involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.
With regard to that, the court said there were no records of Tinubu’s arrest in the US.
Regarding the allegations, the court said Tinubu still enjoyed unimpeded access to the US so it was discountenanced.
The court held that the petitioners failed to show that Tinubu was charged, found guilty or sentenced to jail for the alleged offence relating to drug trafficking.
The two had up to Wednesday to challenge the Sept. 6 tribunal ruling. The Supreme Court, the highest in Nigeria, has 60 days to rule on the appeals.
Tinubu, who is attending the United Nations meeting in New York, has defended his victory, saying he won fairly.
Akowe in Abuja with materials from NAN and Reuters
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