(3 minutes read)
In a major victory for the incumbent President, an appeals court in Nigeria rejected two out of the three petitions yesterday (Wednesday) challenging the legitimacy of President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February election. The last petition is still under deliberation in a case that has put the country on edge.
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Three opposing parties challenged the election results which they said were illegally announced and argued that Tinubu was not qualified to run for president because he was a citizen of Guinea. They alleged that he did not have the required academic credentials.
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In the Court of Appeal in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, a five-member justice panel ruled that the third-place finisher Peter Obi and his Labour Party were not able to prove their claims that the Nigerian election commission did not follow due process in announcing the results of the vote nor that the voting was marred by irregularities. Tinubu won the election with a majority of votes.
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The court also rejected witness statements called by Obi, saying they were incompetent, and ruled that he failed to prove his claim that Tinubu was once indicted on drug charges in the United States. The court said that the petitioners had failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by law. It also rejected a petition by the Allied Peoples Movement which sought to nullify Tinubu’s victory on the ground that his running mate — Vice President Kashim Shettima— was not legally nominated to contest. Tinubu, who is currently attending the G20 summit in India, has denied all the allegations. The decision can be appealed at Nigeria’s Supreme Court within 60 days.
