Supreme Court affirms Tinubu winner of Feb 25 election

Admin I Thursday, Oct. 25, 2023

 

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Supreme Court today upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the valid winner of the presidential election that took place on February 25 in Nigeria.

Justice Inyang Okoro delivered the lead judgment, emphasizing that the petition filed by former President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, lacked merit in its attempt to nullify the election results.

The Supreme Court ruled that Atiku failed to prove that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not substantially comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act during the election.

The court referred to section 185(1) of the Evidence Act, which states that an election should not be invalidated unless non-compliance substantially affected the outcome. It highlighted that Atiku’s team had not only failed to prove non-compliance but also did not establish that INEC’s failure to electronically transmit results through its IReV portal influenced the election’s outcome.

The court clarified the distinction between the election result collation system and the IReV portal, asserting that the failure of the IReV portal did not stop the manual collation process. Nonetheless, it acknowledged that the absence of results on the IReV portal could reduce confidence in the electoral process.

The Supreme Court further emphasized that Atiku and the PDP did not demonstrate a miscarriage of justice resulting from the dismissal of their petition by the Presidential Election Petition Court.

The court rejected the argument that President Tinubu should not have been declared the winner due to his failure to secure 25% of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stating that the FCT does not hold a more special status than the 36 states.

Regarding allegations of a drug-related case against President Tinubu in the USA leading to the forfeiture of $460,000, the Supreme Court deemed the timing of raising this issue inappropriate and a denial of the Respondents’ right to fair hearing.

In conclusion, the Supreme Court upheld President Tinubu’s election victory and dismissed the petition by Atiku and the PDP, reinforcing the importance of proving substantial non-compliance and adhering to due process in electoral disputes. President Tinubu had been declared the winner with 8,794,726 votes, securing his victory in a closely contested election.