The Supreme Court, on Thursday, affirmed President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the valid winner of the presidential election that held in the country on February 25.
The apex court, in its judgement held that there was no merit in the appeals filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi seeking to nullify the outcome of the election.
Upholding the verdict of the Presidential Election Petitions Court, PEPC, the Supreme Court held that both Atiku and Obi did not prove that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, did not substantially comply with provisions of the Electoral Act, in the conduct of the election.
The apex court also dismissed the argument that failure of INEC to transmit results of the election through its IReV portal, influenced the outcome of the presidential poll.
The Supreme Court said it was not necessary to secure 25% votes in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja if a candidate already had majority of the votes in more states.
The apex court affirmed the position of the PEPC that the FCT does not have a status that is more special than that of the 36 States of the federation.
On the issue that President Tinubu was involved in a drug related case in the USA that led to the forfeiture of $460, 000, the Supreme Court held that Tinubu raised the issue when the Respondents had already filed their process. “The ruling of the lower court is unassailable and this court will not interfere,” it held.
Earlier on, the Supreme Court had set aside the “new evidence”, brought by Atiku, alleging that Tinubu forged his Chicago State University certificate. According to the apex court, the case was filed out of time and couldn’t even prove cause of forgery.
