By Brian Okoth
Bola Tinubu was validly elected as Nigeria’s 16th president in the February 25, 2023 elections, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in the capital Abuja has ruled.
A case filed by the opposition, led by Peter Obi, challenging Tinubu’s victory was thrown out on Wednesday over lack of sufficient evidence to prove electoral malpractice.
PEPC also ruled that Tinubu met presidential qualification requirements after the petitioners unsuccessfully argued that the United States had convicted Tinubu of drug trafficking.
Obi had submitted that Tinubu paid a fine of $460,000 in a drugs-related case in 2003.
The five-member tribunal, however, found that the said-case filed in Illinois was not crime-related, and that Tinubu had never been arraigned for drug trafficking.
No criminal history
The tribunal, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, also said that ten years had elapsed since Tinubu was slapped with the fine in the US, hence he could not be locked out of the presidential race based on that technicality.
The court also found that there are no records indicating that Tinubu has a criminal history in the United States.
The tribunal also dismissed Obi’s allegation that the February 25 polls were rigged in favour of Tinubu, a candidate sponsored by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party.
PEPC said the petitioner did “not give specific details” of where rigging took place despite alleging widespread irregularities.
Violence and voter suppression
The court further observed that the petitioner failed to prove the claim that his votes were deducted in the states of Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Yobe, Borno, Tabara, Osun and Lagos.
The allegation of irregular votes being added to Tinubu’s tally was also dismissed.
The tribunal further said that Obi and his Labour Party also failed to prove allegations of violence, suppression of votes, vote doctoring and corruption.
Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the presidential election, had also disputed Tinubu’s victory.
Abubakar, who ran on People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ticket, had submitted several exhibits, including witness statements, to prove electoral irregularities.
The court, however, found his evidence too weak or insufficient to warrant the overturning of Tinubu’s victory.
Overvote claim
Abubakar had largely argued that in many polling centres, the voter turnout was lower than what the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had recorded in the final tally.
He submitted that the unlawful “extra” votes were added to Tinubu’s tally, an allegation that was dismissed by the tribunal.
The court also ruled that Abubakar had introduced new claims when hearing was already in progress, which was against litigation principles.
Tinubu took over from his longtime friend Muhammadu Buhari after getting 8.79 million votes in the February polls, ahead of Abubakar’s 6.98 million votes and Obi’s 6.10 million votes.
He was sworn into office on May 29, and has pledged to improve Nigeria’s economy and security.
