Abuja, Oct. 26, 2023: As opposition politicians meet dead end after the Supreme Court dismissed their petitions against the election of Mr Bola Tinubu, the President has formally appealed to the warring group to join to work and build Nigeria together
71-year-old President Tinubu received the unanimous judgement of the seven-member of the Supreme Court with satisfaction as the court of the last resort and enjoined the petitioners to embrace unity and concord.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the victory of President Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
The apex court in its ruling dismissed the appeals by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart Peter Obi.
The court ruled that the opposition appeals over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president were without merit.
The apex court thrashed all the grounds of appeal of Atiku and PDP on qualification, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the 25% votes in FCT, and electoral malpractices.
“On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the appellant, it is my view that there is no merit in the appeal and it is hereby dismissed,” Justice Inyang Okoro, who read the lead judgement said in dismissing Atiku’s appeal.
“The judgment of the court below delivered on September 6th, 2023 affirming the election of the second respondent as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is hereby affirmed.”
It listened to Obi’s appeal for about five minutes. In dealing with the LP’s presidential candidate on the issue of double nomination of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, the court held that the issue had been dealt with in its ruling on May 26.
“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,” Justice Okoro held.
“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.
“This matter ought not to have come in. When this matter was pending at the trial court, this court delivered that judgment. If you read the judgment of the lower court, they mentioned that the Supreme Court has settled this matter and that should have been the end.
“You now bring this issue of double nomination for us to sit on it and write another judgment, this is not how it should be. This appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed.”
An election appeals court last month already rejected the two main opposition party petitions, including allegations of fraud, violations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and claims Tinubu did not meet the constitutional requirements.
Along with its original claims, Atiku’s legal team had also sought to introduce new evidence, it claims shows Tinubu submitted a forged certificate from the Chicago State University as a qualification to the election commission when he applied to run for president.
Vowing an agenda of “Renewed Hope”, Tinubu took office in May and has quickly introduced reforms his government says will help grow Africa’s largest economy and attract more foreign investment.
In his reaction to the judgement, President Tinubu said: “We are all members of one household, and this moment demands that we continue to work and build our country together.’’
“ The strength of our diversity and the great citizenship that binds us must now compel us forward in directing the energy of our people towards building a virile, stronger, united, and more prosperous country.
“In the days and months ahead, I trust that the spirit of patriotism will be elevated into supporting our administration to improve the living conditions of Nigerians. I am prepared to welcome the contributions of all Nigerians to foster and strengthen our collective progress,’’ he said.
Expressing his immense gratitude to all Nigerians for the mandate to serve our country, he promise again to meet and exceed people’s expectations in service delivery and good governance.
