Final blow against Atiku, Obi’s legal tussle, as supreme court affirms Tinubu’s validity as President

The frantic efforts of Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to unseat President Bola Tinubu was on Thursday finally laid to rest as the  Supreme Court  dismissed the appeal filed by  him(Abubakar) challenging his(Tinubu election victory.

Penpushing reports that in similar development the Supreme Court equally dismissed the separate appeal filed by Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu.

The seven-member panel of the court unanimously dismissed the appeal after resolving all seven issues raised by the appellant in favour of Tinubu in a legal battle which stretched to the United States of America (USA) to overturn Tinubu’s victory at the 25 February election.

Penpushing further reports that, Justice Inyang Okoro, who led the panel while delivering judgement, struck down the allegation by Atiku that failure to promptly upload the polling unit results of the election to IReV amounted to non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, thus, invalidating the election.

The court in the judgement dismissed Atiku and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) argument, stating that  IReV was not a result collation platform, therefore failure to upload results onto it could not have invalidated the election.

Penpushing also reports that the court held that Tinubu’s failure to score 25 per cent of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when he had polled 25 per cent votes in over 24 states as required by law did not affect his victory in the election.

The judge in the judgement posited and held that Atiku failed to prove his allegation of widespread rigging during the election or that he won the election, emphasizing that he was unable  to find any figures put forward by the appellant that he scored the majority votes

‘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. The votes before us show that the second respondent Tinubu won the election’, Okoro declared.

Penpushing reports that the court on the issue of use of disparaging words by the lower court against the appellant, stated that the words of the court were not meant to disparage the appellant and did not amount to bias against appellant as argued by their lawyers.

The court, however, declared on the whole, having resolved all the issues against the appellant, it held that there is no merit in this appeal and dismissed the case, adding that on that basis, the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Committee (PEPC) delivered on September, 6, 2023 affirming Tinubu as the duly elected President of Nigeria is affirmed.

Penpushing further reports that the court earlier dismissed the bid by Atiku to tender fresh evidence of certificate forgery from Chicago State University (CSU) on the academic records of Tinubu, stating that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain such evidence that was not tendered before the lower court.

The Supreme court posited that the appellant’s lawyers were tardy in their attempt to obtain the evidence and tender it at the lower court, adding that  as of the time Atiku brought the document, the trial Presidential Election Petition Court had lost jurisdiction to hear Atiku’s petition challenging Tinubu’s election.

Penpushing also reports that the judge added that the Supreme Court did not have the power to accept and act on the evidence which the lower court did not admit and act on, and expressed dismay why Atiku sought to tender the fresh evidence when the grounds of his appeal did not raise the issue of certificate forgery against the President.

‘The jurisdiction of this court is donated by the Constitution. One wonders what the appellant (Atiku) intends to do when none of his grounds of appeal is hinged on forgery against the second respondent (Mr Tinubu.)’, Okoro said

Penpushing reports that the court explained that Atiku’s attempt to introduce the fresh evidence was aimed at reversing the gains made in speedy adjudication of electoral disputes that had been marred by prolonged hearing.

The Supreme Court, however, is same pattern dismissed the appeal filed by Peter Obi of the Labour Party challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu, which was brought before the seven-member panel  led by  Justice Inyang Okoro .

Penpushing further reports that the court summarily dismissed the appeal on Thursday, saying the appeal raised substantially the same issues in Atiku Abubakar’s appeal which was earlier dismissed by the court.

The court in unanimous judgement noted that the only different issue in Obi’s appeal, which is the allegation of double nomination of Kashim Shettima as vice-presidential candidate and a senatorial candidate in the February election, had been earlier resolved by the court and would not be allowed to be relitigated.

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