Supreme Court Reserves Judgment for Presidential Petition
The candidates of the Labour Party Mr. Peter Obi and the People’s Democratic Party Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have approached the Supreme Court of Nigeria, dissatisfied with the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal delivered on September 6, 2023.
After hearing the appeal, the Supreme court has adopted the processes and announced that the judgment would be reserved for a later date, which will be communicated to the parties involved.
To recall, the tribunal affirmed the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the Presidential Election held on February 25, 2023, addressing several legal issues. The court held that the presidential candidate was eligible to contest because the allegations of previous conviction were not proven. The court further clarified that Abuja is not granted any special status, as one must secure 25 percent of the vote in order to become president. Additionally, the petitioners failed to provide specific evidence of irregularities in the polling units where rigging allegedly occurred.
The Court court also held that INEC has the discretion in transmission of Election result, when the issue of Electronic transmission was raised.
However, a pending issue of certificate forgery, which was not given much weight at the tribunal, became more serious as Chicago State University released records with unexplained discrepancies, showing evidence of certificate forgery by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The court is faced with the challenge of reviewing the decision of Court of apeal and state the true position of the law. As an Apex court our hopes as Nigerian is hinged on the decision there would make in this judgement, and we pray that justice is served judiciously and judicially.
The current legal battle at the Supreme Court revolves around whether fresh evidence will be admitted, a matter not addressed at the court of first instance.
VOTP News is closely following the situation and will continue to provide accurate reports as the case unfolds as the Political future of the country depends on this judgement.
