Presidential tribunal upholds Tinubu’s victory

The presidential election tribunal has upheld the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The tribunal ruled that Nigeria’s main opposition parties failed to prove claims of electoral malpractice against the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 presidential election.

“This petition is hereby declared unmeritorious,” one of the judges said.

APC’s Tinubu had been declared president with approximately a third of the votes ahead of closest rivals Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).

Abubakar and Obi had asked the court to invalidate the election, alleging irregularities.

Judges rejected all claims made by Obi and Atiku, including fraud, charges electoral authorities broke the law and allegations that Tinubu was ineligible to run.

No legal challenge to the outcome of a presidential election has succeeded in Nigeria since democracy returned in 1999.

Atiku and Obi can appeal to the Supreme Court to dismiss the tribunal’s ruling.

Any appeal must be concluded within 60 days of the date of the tribunal judgement.