The Supreme Court of Nigeria began yesterday to judge an opposition candidate’s appeal to annul a court decision that confirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February elections, Efe announced.
After months of deliberation, a court in September rejected requests by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labor Party to annul Tinubu’s victory due to alleged fraud and irregularities. The two came in second and third place, respectively, in the voting.
Abubakar filed an appeal, saying the judiciary made a “serious error” in its decision. The seven Supreme Court judges are expected to rule in the coming weeks on this latest challenge.
Almost 25 million Nigerians voted at the polls in February, in a generally calm election but marked by delays in counting and failures in the electronic transfer of results.
The results were widely accepted by the international community, which saw Tinubu declared the winner with 37% of the votes. No legal challenge to the outcome of a presidential election has been successful in Nigeria, which returned to democracy in 1999.
