Atiku, Obi vs Tinubu: 5 key issues Supreme Court will deliver judgement on

The Supreme Court has fixed Thursday, October 26, for judgement it reserved on the two appeals that are seeking to nullify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's election.

It would be recalled that the apex court on Monday, October 23, began hearing an appeal by opposition candidates to quash the Tribunal’s decision upholding President Tinubu’s victory in the February poll. The candidates disputing the election are Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi (Labour Party, LP).

Legit.ng reports that the seven Supreme Court judges are expected to rule on Thursday on this latest challenge.

The court has the final say in any petition.

Here are some of the key issues raised in the opposition appeals:

1) Tinubu's eligibility and Shettima’s candidacy

The opposition is challenging the eligibility of President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The contention was based on an allegation of Shettima’s double nomination as a vice presidential candidate and senatorial candidate in the same election cycle.

Tinubu while submitting his presidential nomination form to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in June 2022, chose Ibrahim Masari, a politician from Katsina state, as a “placeholder”.

Masari served as a placeholder and later announced his withdrawal from the position, which paved the way for Tinubu to name Shettima as his running mate on July 10, 2022.

2) 25% in FCT

Lawyers for Obi argued that Tinubu did not score 25% of the vote in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which, according to them, meant he did not meet the legal threshold to be declared the winner.

Under Nigeria's electoral law, a presidential candidate is deemed to have won if he or she gets no less than a quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of all the 36 states and Abuja.

The provision has been interpreted differently by the opposition and Tinubu's lawyers.

The opposition says a successful candidate should get 25% of the vote in three-quarters of the states and the same in Abuja, while Tinubu argued that the 25% refers to the states and Abuja combined.

3) INEC’s challenge with IReV

Messrs Atiku and Obi alleged that INEC conducted the 2023 election based on grave and gross misrepresentation.

According to the opposition candidates, their lawyers, and supporters, INEC's alleged misrepresentation was contrary to the principles of the Electoral Act 2022, and against the doctrine of legitimate expectation.

They fault INEC’s failure to electronically transmit polling unit (PU) results to its Results Viewing (IReV) portal in real time.

4) Allegations of manipulation in favour of Tinubu

Atiku accused INEC of installing a third-party device to “manipulate” the results of the February 25 poll in favour of Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.

Also, Atiku's party, the PDP, accused INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu of rigging the February presidential poll.

5) Tinubu’s academic records obtained from CSU

The Supreme Court's panel wants Atiku to prove the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against President Tinubu beyond reasonable doubt.

In his bid to nullify Tinubu’s victory and prove the allegation that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the presidential poll, Atiku had prayed to an Illinois Chicago district court to order the Chicago State University (CSU) to release the President’s academic records.

Subsequently, the CSU produced three out of the four sets of documents requested by the former vice president to him.