The Supreme Court of Nigeria rejected, on Wednesday, the Nigerian opposition’s electoral challenge over irregularities in the election of Bola Tinubu as president of that country and upheld the statesman’s victory, Reuters reported.
The leaders of the two largest Nigerian opposition parties called for the annulment of President Tinubu’s victory, after coming second in the presidential elections held in February this year.
In the appeal, Bola Tinubu’s opponents argued that the electoral commission did not electronically transmit the results of the polling stations to an online portal, which undermined their authenticity, further stating that the statesman obtained less than 25% of the votes in the federal capital, Abuja, so he did not meet the legal threshold to become president.
The ruling by seven Supreme Court justices, which is final, follows a pattern seen in previous presidential elections that were challenged in court. None of the attempts to overturn the results through the courts were successful.
The court also rejected the attempt by the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, to present new evidence regarding an alleged fake university certificate presented by Nigeria’s head of state to the electoral agency.
