Supreme Court Dismisses Case Aiming To Void President Tinubu’s Election Victory

The Supreme Court has dismissed the case trying to void President Bola Tinubu's Feb. 25 election victory.

The case, which was filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard bearer Atiku Abubakar and Labor Party's Peter Obi and alleged that Tinubu was not qualified to run for and take office as president, was junked on Thursday. The judgment was passed by a seven-member panel of the court, according to Punch.

Justice Inyang Okoro, presiding justice of the panel, refused to accept Tinubu's academic records, which Abubakar obtained from the Chicago State University and presented to the court last month as fresh evidence to prove that the ex-Lagos State governor committed certificate forgery.

Aside from Okoro, the other justices on the panel were Uwani Aji, Mohammed Garba, Ibrahim Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Abubakar Tijjani and Emmanuel Agim. All of them agreed with the lead judgment and dismissed Abubakar's appeal.

Besides allegations concerning Tinubu's education, Atiku also argued that the polling unit results were not immediately uploaded to IReV, which is non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act. Because of this, according to him, the election is invalid.

However, this argument was also rejected by the court.

"I am unable to find any figures put forward by the appellant that he scored the majority votes, other than the figures declared by INEC declaring the second respondent (Tinubu) winner of the election," Okoro said.

"The votes before us show that the second respondent Tinubu won the election," he added.

Okoro wrapped up his judgment by saying, "On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the appellant, I hold that there is no merit in this appeal and it hereby dismissed."

Tinubu welcomed the Supreme Court's judgment on the same day and said, "The court has done justice to all issues put up for consideration in the petitions on the merits of the law, without fear or favor," as per State House.

The president also noted that the verdict "laid to rest the agitating discourse over who truly won the 2023 Presidential election and met the constitutional requirements as laid out by law."

He went on to share that his faith in Nigeria's judiciary was never shaken throughout the process, as he believed the country's "hallowed courts of law will not fail to administer justice to all Nigerians in all matters and at all times."

"Despite the fusillade of pressure and attempts at intimidation by some political actors, the judiciary demonstrated its unequivocal commitment to upholding the rule of law for the upliftment and defense of humanity," Tinubu said.