Nigerian court dismisses Peter Obi's case challenging President Tinubu's election

Peter Obi rejected the 2023 election results that declared Bola Tinubu as president of Nigerai.

An Appeals Court in Nigeria has rejected Peter Obi’s case challenging the election of Bola Tinubu’s election as president of the West African country.

Tinubu got a narrow victory in Nigeria’s presidential election held in February this year.

In a verdict issued in slightly over six hours, the appellate court dismissed the case by the Labour Party leader on grounds that it lacked merits.

Therefore, the court dismissed all his arguments.

The court’s verdict is still ongoing. The judge is expected to issue the final word on the case by Peoples Democratic Party leader Atiku Abubakar.

In the ruling, Justice Tsammani also said that:

• The petitioners failed to specify the polling units where they alleged that rigging took place
• The petitioners failed to provide any credible evidence to prove their allegations of suppression of votes in their strongholds
• The electoral commission was not bound to transmit results electronically
• Failure to upload the photographic copies of polling unit results in real time did not invalidate the election.

President Tinubu was sworn into office on May 29, 2023.

The election was the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule in 1999.

It was also marred by a low voter turnout in a hot contest pitting three strong candidates against each other for the first time in two decades.

Tinubu won with 37% of votes cast, against 29% for Abubakar and 25% for Obi.

 

Additional details from BBC News.