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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), on Wednesday, upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu at the February 25 presidential poll.
In a unanimous judgement delivered by the chairman of the five-member panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, the tribunal held that the petitioners– Atiku Abubakar and his party, Peoples Democatic Party (PDP); Peter Obi and his party, Labour Party and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) failed to prove the allegations in their petitions and subsequently dismissed them.
Justice Tsammani said he agreed with the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
On whether INEC was right to return Tinubu as the duly elected president by majority of lawful votes cast in the February 25, 2023 poll, the tribunal held that the petitioners did not successfully prove the allegations against this ground and indeed all the grounds in their petitions.
“I affirm the return of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said
The tribunal had earlier expunged 37 exhibits tendered by the witnesses of Atiku from the court’s records.
He said parties in the case should bear the costs of their litigations.
Details later…