THE Supreme Court, on Thursday, October 26, dismissed the appeal filed by former vice president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, seeking to nullify the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku had in the notice of appeal, urged the apex court to dismiss and set aside the September 6 judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which upheld Tinubu’s victory.
But a seven-man panel of Justices, led by Justice John Inyang Okoro, held that failure to transmit election results electronically did not affect the outcome of the election and could not warrant the nullification of a presidential election.
The court also ruled that Atiku did not produce alternative results of the presidential election that showed he won majority number of votes cast to rebuff the one declared by INEC.
It resolved all the seven issues distilled for determination in favour of Tinubu, stating that the appeal lacked merit.
It dismissed all the grounds of appeal of Atiku and PDP on qualification, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the 25% votes in the Federal capital Territory (FCT) and electoral malpractices.
“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.
“The judgment of the court below delivered on September 6, 2023 affirming the election of the second respondent as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is hereby affirmed,” Justice Okoro held.
The court, having listened to the appeal by Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, for about five minutes on the issue of double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima, held that the issue had been dealt with in its ruling on May 26.
“As for issue Number 4, which has to do with double nomination, which was not in Atiku’s appeal, it is the view of this court that this issue, having been dealt with by this court, this court cannot allow the matter to be re-litigated in this very court.
“There must be an end to litigation,” Okoro held.
