Supreme Court dismisses Atiku, Obi’s appeal against Tinubu’s election

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, brought to an end the eight-month legal battle to unseat Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In a unanimous judgement prepared and delivered by Justice John Inyang Okoro, leading six other Justices, the apex court dismissed the appeals by former Vice President and Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, and the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, seeking to nullify Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

In their various notices of appeal, Atiku and Obi, along with their political parties, had urged the apex court to dismiss and set aside the September 6 judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which affirmed the victory of President Tinubu.

In determining the first issue for determination in Atiku’s appeal, the court held that the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically did not affect the outcome of the election and could not warrant the nullification of the February 25 presidential election.

The apex court also stated that Atiku did not produce alternative results of the presidential election that showed that he won a majority of votes cast to rebuff the one declared by INEC.

The court also held that the inability of the electoral body to transmit the election results electronically to its viewing portal could not be a reason for the cancellation of the presidential election and added that Atiku and his party did not show any miscarriage of justice in the judgement of the lower court.

The apex court also held that it did not see anything wrong with the decision of the lower court on the 25 per cent votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and agreed that the constitution did not confer any special status on FCT than any state of the federation.

On issue three raised by the petitioners, Justice Okoro held that the court cannot allow a party to do what it is supposed to do outside the time allowed by the law and agreed with the lower court in striking out the evidence of the subpoenaed witnesses.

According to Justice Okoro, the appellants have not demonstrated why the Supreme Court should interfere with the decision of the lower court and resolve all seven issues raised for the determination of the court against the appellants.

According to Justice Okoro, “I am unable to find any figure put forward by Atiku that he scored the majority votes, other than the figures declared by INEC declaring the second respondent (Tinubu) winner of the election. The votes before us show that the second respondent, Tinubu, won the election”.

On the issue of the disparaging words by the lower court on the appellants, Okoro held that the words of the court were not meant to disparage the appellants and added that matters before the court are subjudice and parties should restrain from media trials.

“Having resolved all the issues against the appellants, this appeal lacks merit and is hereby dismissed. The judgement of the lower court is hereby affirmed; I make no order as to cost”, Justice Okoro held.

Earlier, the court
dismissed Atiku’s motion seeking leave of court to file fresh evidence in his appeal against Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election.

In the motion filed on October 6, Atiku pleaded with the apex court to grant him leave to bring in additional evidence by way of depositions on oath from the Chicago State University (CSU) for use in his appeal, namely the certified discovery deposition made by Caleb Westberg on behalf of Chicago State University on October 3, 2023, disclaiming the certificate presented by Tinubu to INEC.

The 32-page deposition was released to the former Vice President on the orders of Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division, Illinois, United States of America.

Ruling on the motion, Justice Okoro held that, after a clinical look at the issues formulated by all the parties, it was clear that the argument is whether the court, as presently constituted, has the power to grant the motion and added that out of the seven issues distilled by Atiku for determination, none are related to forgery, which he is seeking to bring in.

“The Constitution does not permit that, and this court has no jurisdiction to grant the filing of fresh evidence that was not pleaded at the lower court”.

More so, the Supreme Court noted that Atiku did not even deem it fit to file for an amendment of his pleadings and for an extension of time since the 180 days allowed by the Constitution had elapsed since September 17, 2023.

“In the circumstances of this case, this court cannot activate Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to admit fresh evidence. The application runs foul of Section 14 of the Evidence Act”, Justice Okoro held and added that Atiku and his party shall not be allowed to amend their petition after the 21 days allowed by law.

“It is shocking to have Atiku’s lawyer argue in print that there is no statutory time limit of 180 days for the lower court to decide a presidential election petition. It will be unfortunate to go back to the dark old days when election petitions could be heard up to the point of expiration of the tenure of the person whose election was being challenged”, Justice Okoro held, consequently dismissing the application.

In the same vein, the seven-member panel of justices of the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Obi and his party challenging the September 6 judgement of the PEPC, which dismissed their petition against Tinubu’s election.

Justice Okoro held in the unanimous judgement that the decisions of the apex court in Atiku and the PDP’s case earlier delivered have taken care of the appeal filed by Obi and his party.

However, on the issue of double nomination of the vice presidential candidate of the APC, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, canvassed by the appellants, Justice Okoro held that the issue had been taken care of by the Supreme Court before and that the apex court cannot sit on it again.

“The issue has been dealt with, and the court does not intend to open it again. On the whole, this appeal is dismissed for lacking merit”, Justice Okoro held in the lead judgement that was agreed with by Justices Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, Mohammed Garba, Ibrahim Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Abubakar Tijjani, and Emmanuel Agim, who sat on the panel.

INEC had, on March 1, 2023, declared Tinubu of the ruling APC as the president-elect, having polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest challengers, Atiku, who scored a total of 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi, who scored a total of 6,101,533 votes.

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