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President Bola Tinubu
The major opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) as well as a socio-political group, the National Rescue Congress (NRC) have expressed disappointment with the judgment of the Supreme Court which affirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu.
The apex court in a unanimous judgment, yesterday, dismissed the separate appeals filed by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Mr. Peter Obi of the LP for lacking in merit.
Justice John Okoro who read the lead judgment that was unanimously supported by six other justices of the court affirmed the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which upheld the return and declaration of Tinubu as winner of the February 25 election.
- While Atiku and Obi had wanted Tinubu’s win to be nullified on the ground that he did not get 25 percent FCT votes, the Appeal Court ruled that their petition was immaterial. The Supreme Court agreed with the PEPC that a candidate does not need to get at least 25 percent Federal Capital Territory (FCT) votes to be declared as the country’s president.
Delivering judgment in Atiku’s appeal, Justice Okoro struck out the allegation by Atiku that failure to promptly upload the polling unit results of the election to IReV amounted to non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, thus, invalidating the election.
It held that Atiku did not prove that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not substantially comply with provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduct of the election.
It held that evidence contained in the record of the appeal showed that the Appellants abandoned the duty imposed on them by the law to not only prove the alleged non compliance, but to establish that failure of INEC to transmit results of the election through its IReV portal, influenced the outcome of the presidential poll.
The Supreme Court said it had in past judgments made it clear that there was a difference between election result collation system and the IReV portal. “Where the IReV portal fails, it does not stop the collation which up till the last election was manually done.”
•Electronic transmission
Nevertheless, it stressed that INEC’s failure to electronically transmit results of the election denied the electorate opportunity to follow and crosscheck results that were eventually uploaded.
“Truth must be told, the non-transmission of results to the IReV portal may also reduce the confidence of the voting population in the electoral process.”
Justice Okoro held that unavailability of results on INEC’s IReV portal, for whatever reason, could not be the reason for an election to be nullified. The court dismissed the argument, saying IReV was not a result collation platform, therefore, failure to upload results onto it could not have invalidated the election.
The court also held that Tinubu’s failure to score 25 per cent in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when he had polled 25 per cent votes in over 24 states as required by law did not affect his victory in the election. The court also held that Atiku failed to prove his allegation of widespread rigging during the election or that he won the election
“I am unable to find any figures put forward by the appellant that he scored the majority votes, other than the figures declared by INEC declaring the second respondent (Tinubu) winner of the election.
On the issue of use of disparaging words by the lower court against the appellant, he said the words of the court were not meant to disparage and did not amount to bias against appellant as argued by their lawyers. “On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the appellant, I hold that there is no merit in this appeal and it is hereby dismissed,” Justice Okoro said.
On that basis, he said the judgment of the PEPC delivered on September 6, affirming Tinubu as the duly elected president of Nigeria “is hereby affirmed.”
•Fresh evidence
The court had earlier dismissed the bid by Atiku to tender fresh evidence of certificate forgery against President Tinubu. The fresh evidence was a deposition of the registrar of Chicago State University (CSU) on the academic records of Mr. Tinubu. Atiku had obtained the document after winning a legal case in a US court which compelled the university to release Tinubu’s academic records to Atiku to prove allegations of certificate forgery against Tinubu.
•LP, Obi petition lack merit
The appeal lodged by Obi and the LP equally suffered the same fate as it was dismissed for lacking in merit.
Delivering the lead judgment which was supported by other members of the panel, Justice Okoro held that issues Obi raised in his case were already decided in a separate appeal filed by Atiku.
Justice Okoro noted that the only distinct issue Obi raised in his appeal was the issue that the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, had double nominations from the APC.
The court held that it had earlier decided the issue on May 26, in an appeal marked: SC/CV/501/2023.
“This court cannot allow the matter to be re-litigated in this court. There must be an end to litigation. This matter ought not to have come here.
“The appeal lacks merit and it is accordingly dismissed,” the apex court held.
•Judgment has shaken confidence of Nigerians in judiciary –PDP
However, the PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the opposition party and indeed majority of Nigerians were alarmed, disappointed and gravely concerned with the reasoning of the Supreme Court.
“The PDP asserts that it is indeed a sad commentary for our democracy that the Supreme Court failed to uphold the provisions of the law.
“Instead, it trashed the expectation of the majority of Nigerians who looked up to it as a temple of impartiality to deliver substantial justice in the matter having regards to the laws and facts of the case.
“Nigerians earnestly expected the Supreme Court to uphold and defend the clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution in terms of qualification and minimum requirement for a winner to be declared in a Presidential election in Nigeria.
Ologunagba said Nigerians were still at a loss as to how the Supreme Court condoned the “serious issues of forgery, falsehood and perjury on the altar of technicalities.”
Ologunagba said the general gloom, melancholy and sense of despondency across the country upon the delivery of the judgment was an ominous sign of an eerie situation which portend consequences because of the disappointment embedded in the judgment.
“This judgment by the Supreme Court has evidently shaken the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court as the last hope of the common man.”
Ologunagba, however, declared that the PDP remained undeterred and also charged Nigerians not to be discouraged or allow the judgment to detract from their collective quest for the entrenchment of a credible electoral system that could guarantee a government that derives its legitimacy from the people.
•LP: Nigeria sliding towards dictatorship
The LP expressed shock and surprise that the apex Court could toe the line of an earlier judgment of the PEPC in spite of all the flaws associated with it.
“The leadership of the Labour Party watched as the sacred fabric of justice and good conscience was shredded today at the Supreme Court as it delivered its verdict in the case between our party’s Presidential candidate and the APC presidential candidate.
“Having conclusively exercised our fundamental rights as gifted to us by the laws of the land, we have no other choice but to move on.
“We may be disappointed and dismayed by the outcome of the exercise but we have chosen to trudge on and to remain optimistic of what the future holds for the nation.
“We weep for our institutions that cannot rise to the occasion and courageously defend democracy and the voices of our people.
“However, there are great lessons to be learnt. What transpired in Nigeria since the February 25 presidential election is a clear testament that our institutions are not working and that we may be sliding towards dictatorship. It is very clear that the executive has hijacked both the judiciary and the legislature. This is so unfortunate for our democracy and it is even more for the people of Nigeria.
“All what our forebears taught us has been destroyed within a short space of time because of the Unbridled ambition of a few. The founding fathers fought with their lives to achieve independence for the country. People lost their lives for the struggle to keep our democracy and all these years people have been struggling to achieve electoral and constitutional reforms. Regrettably, all of these efforts and struggles have been destroyed today
“It is also pertinent to put on record that we have it on very good authority that the government may have marked some Labour Party’s key leaders, myself especially and our leader and presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, in particular for vilification, in order to suppress the party, suffocate our team, and our goal of a new Nigeria. The planned persecution, intimidation, suppression and harassment of our leaders using security agencies and all other government institutions will be definitely defended.”
The National Chairman therefore, called on all its members, and the Obidient family to be vigilant and brace up for the challenges ahead.
“The struggle for a New Nigeria will certainly be tortuous and hard. We are also calling on the international community to rise to the occasion to defend democracy in Nigeria. Your voices were loud and clear in condemnation of the outcome of the presidential election. As we approach the next stage of our democratic journey, we call on you to stand by the millions of Nigerians who are already pushed beyond their limits into unnecessary hardship and penury.”
•Black day for Nigerian democracy –NRC
The group at a global press conference titled, “The State of the Nation and Call to Rescue Nigeria” held via Zoom platform rejected the judgment.
The host, Emmanuel Ihim lamented that “our nation is at a crossroad and we have seen it by ourselves. There is no retreat or going back. We need to decide whether we are going to fight for our freedom or not because freedom doesn’t just fall from heaven.
“Freedom has been contended, contested, and fought for. We can decide to fight to have our freedom back. God created every one of us free. No Nation, no Country can give us freedom. There is nowhere in the World where it is written in any constitution that freedom is given by the government. None.
“Freedom is a gift from God and we can decide to retrieve our freedom and live in a land that is free or we live in bondage. Thank God for the men and women who have fought for this country. Thank God for the men and women who are still standing for this Country.
“A judgment may be said to be legal but that judgment may be immoral. Today’s judgment is contrary to human rights principles. This judgment is unjust and we reject it. In unison, we reject this judgment. In unison, we will stand against it”, he decried.
Also speaking during the conference, special guest, Prof. Chris Nwaokobi said, “we are confronted by a rogue regime, a rogue judiciary, and a rogue national assembly. We are confronted by men and women who have decided to diminish all the country stands for. We are not a country of forgers. We are confronted by forces of wickedness and witchcraft because they don’t care about Nigeria. So, we must stop agonising and begin to harmonise not necessarily for 2027 but for today.”
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