Jubilation as Tribunal gives final verdict on Tinubu’s election as Nigeria’s President

The Presidential Election Petitions Court on Wednesday, September 6, affirmed the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

In the court's final judgement, Tinubu has been returned as the actual winner of the Saturday, February 25 presidential election victory.

On whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was right to return Tinubu as the duly elected by a majority of lawful votes cast in the 2023 presidential poll, the Tribunal held that the petitioner — the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar —, did not successfully prove the allegations against this ground and indeed all the grounds in their petition, Channels TV reported.

Nigeria’s main opposition parties failed to prove claims of electoral malpractice against the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in February’s disputed elections, Aljazeera report added.

“This petition is hereby declared unmeritorious,” one of the judges said, as the tribunal rejected the opposition challenge to Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s win in the presidential election. This is coming a few hours after the tribunal dismissed the petition filed by Peter Obi of the Labour Party against Tinubu's victory. Justice Haruna Tsammani, leader of the five-man panel, added,

“This petition accordingly lacks merit. I affirm the return of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The parties are to bear their cost.”