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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Supreme Court, on Thursday, upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
The apex court in its ruling dismissed the appeals by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi.
A seven-man panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro described the appeals of the petitioners as vexatious, unmeritorious and lacking in merit.
The apex court dismissed all the grounds of appeal of Atiku and Obi on eligibility, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 25% in FCT and electoral malpractices.
Delivering judgement on Atiku’s appeal, Justice Okoro, who read the lead judgement, said: “On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the appellant, it is my view that there is no merit in the appeals and they are hereby dismissed.
“The judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered on September 6, 2023 affirming the election of the second respondent as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is hereby affirmed,” Justice Okoro held.
While dismissing Obi’s appeal, Justice Okoro said the issues raised were the same as that of Atiku, except the issue of double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
The panel held that the issue of Shettima’s double nomination had been dealt with by the apex court in its ruling on May 26, 2023.
“As for issue Number 4 which has to do with double nomination which was not in Atiku’s appeal, it is the view of this court that this issue having been dealt with by this court, this court cannot allow the matter to be re-litigated in this very court. There must be an end to litigation.
“For us to sit down now and talk about when this man resigned or did not resign when they did fresh primaries to replace him which we have done before, we are not going to do this again,” Justice Okoro held
The court, therefore, upheld the judgement of the PEPC and proceeded to affirm Tinubu’s victory.
Other members of the panel are Justices Uwani Abba-Aji, Mohammed Garba Lawal, Ibrahim Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Tijani Abubakar and Emmanuel Agim.