ABUJA – In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the legitimacy of President Bola Tinubu’s election victory, dismissing the appeal filed by former President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The ruling, delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, declared that there was no substantial merit in Atiku’s petition aimed at nullifying the results of the presidential election held on February 25.
The apex court’s judgment centered on Atiku’s failure to provide conclusive evidence that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not adhere to the provisions of the Electoral Act during the election. In a key legal reference, the court cited section 185(1) of the Evidence Act, emphasizing that an election cannot be invalidated unless the alleged non-compliance significantly affected the election’s outcome.
The Supreme Court underscored that Atiku’s legal team had not only failed to prove these alleged non-compliance issues but also had not demonstrated that INEC’s failure to transmit election results through its IReV portal had influenced the presidential election’s outcome. Importantly, the court clarified the distinction between the election result collation system and the IReV portal, highlighting that the failure of the latter did not halt the manual collation process, which was used until the most recent election.
However, the Supreme Court expressed concern about INEC’s failure to electronically transmit election results, stating that it deprived voters of the opportunity to monitor and verify the results that were eventually uploaded. The court cautioned that the non-transmission of results to the IReV portal could undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
The court went on to affirm that Atiku and the PDP had not suffered any miscarriage of justice due to the dismissal of their petition by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC). It rejected Atiku’s assertion 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), Abuja. The Supreme Court emphasized that the FCT does not possess a status greater than that of the 36 states in the country.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court upheld the PEPC’s decision to strike out the evidence provided by some of Atiku’s witnesses, citing the majority of their testimonies as “inadmissible hearsay” evidence. Justice Okoro, the head of the Supreme Court panel, stated, “The Appellants did not present any evidence to warrant the interference of the findings of the lower court.”
Addressing the issue of President Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a drug-related case in the United States, the Supreme Court criticized the timing of this claim, noting that it was raised after the Respondents had already filed their legal submissions. The court deemed this action as a violation of the Respondents’ right to a fair hearing and affirmed the lower court’s ruling.
The Supreme Court also pointed out that while Atiku contested the accuracy of INEC’s announced results, he failed to provide an alternative or rival result. In the absence of such evidence, the results declared by INEC were presumed correct. These results showed that President Tinubu received the highest number of votes and was duly declared the winner.
Consequently, the Supreme Court resolved all issues raised in Atiku’s petition against him. In closing, Justice Okoro stated, “On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the Appellants, it is my view that there is no merit in this appeal, and it is hereby dismissed. The judgment of the lower court delivered on September 6 is hereby affirmed. I shall make no order as to cost.”
The ruling by the Supreme Court cements President Tinubu’s victory, as initially announced by INEC on March 1, with a total of 8,794,726 votes, defeating his closest rivals, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi. This decision marks a pivotal moment in Nigeria’s political landscape and affirms the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
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