Posted by Amarachi on Fri 27th Oct, 2023 - tori.ng
As of the time of filing this report, the PDP and the LP presidential candidates have not reacted to the judgement of the apex court, but their respective parties have issued statements.
Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, have kept mute after the Supreme Court affirmed the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the Feb 25th polls.
The apex court, on Thursday, upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 presidential election.
The apex court, in its ruling, dismissed the appeals by Atiku and Obi over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for president, for lacking merit.
A seven-judge panel, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, thrashed all the grounds of appeal of Atiku and the PDP on qualification, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the 25% votes in FCT, and electoral malpractices.
The PDP candidate had also sought to introduce new evidence with claims that Tinubu submitted a forged certificate from the Chicago State University as a qualification to the election commission when he applied to run for president.
However, the apex court dismissed Atiku’s appeal to admit his evidence from the American varsity, saying the time for the submission of fresh appeals had elapsed.
Ruling on Peter Obi’s appeal on the issue of the double nomination of Vice-President Kashim Shettima, the court held that the issue had been dealt with in its ruling on May 26.
As of the time of filing this report, the PDP and the LP presidential candidates have not reacted to the judgement of the apex court, but their respective parties have issued statements.