In a judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro on Thursday, October 26, the court held that the petition filed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to nullify the election’s outcome lacked merit.
It found that Atiku failed to prove that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not substantially comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act in conducting the election.
The Court referred to section 185(1) of the Evidence Act, which stipulates that an election should not be invalidated if alleged non-compliance did not substantially affect the election’s outcome.
It noted that the appellants abandoned their duty to not only prove alleged non-compliance but also to establish that INEC’s failure to transmit election results through its IReV portal influenced the presidential poll’s outcome.
The Supreme Court clarified the distinction between the election result collation system and the IReV portal, stating that the failure of the IReV portal did not impede the manual collation, which was used up to the last election.
“Where the IReV portal fails, it does not stop the collation which up till the last election was manually done,” the court held.
However, the court emphasized that INEC’s failure to electronically transmit results denied voters the opportunity to follow and cross-check the uploaded results, potentially reducing confidence in the electoral process.
“Truth must be told, the non transmission of results to the IReV portal may also reduce the confidence of the voting population in the electoral process,” the Supreme Court warned.
The Supreme Court ruled that the unavailability of results on INEC’s IReV portal, for any reason, could not be grounds for nullifying the election. It found that Atiku and the PDP did not demonstrate any miscarriage of justice as a result of the PEPC’s dismissal of their petition.
Regarding Atiku’s argument that Tinubu should not have been declared the winner due to failing to secure 25% of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Supreme Court upheld the PEPC’s position that the FCT’s status is not more special than that of the 36 states.
The Supreme Court also upheld the striking out of the evidence of some of Atiku’s witnesses at the PEPC hearing, stating that most of the witnesses provided “inadmissible hearsay” evidence.
The court held that the appellants did not present any evidence warranting the interference of the lower court’s findings.
“The Appellants did not present any evidence to warrant the interference of the findings of the lower court,” head of the apex court panel, Justice Okoro, added.
The Supreme Court addressed the issue of Tinubu’s alleged involvement in a drug-related case in the USA, leading to the forfeiture of $460,000, and found that this issue was raised when the respondents had already filed their processes, denying them the right to fair hearing.
The court ruled that although Atiku alleged that INEC’s announced result was inaccurate, he failed to provide an alternative result, and INEC’s result was presumed correct in the absence of any rival result.
In conclusion, the Supreme Court resolved all the issues raised by Atiku against him and dismissed his appeal. The lower court’s judgment delivered on September 6 was affirmed, and no order was made regarding costs.
“The figure before us shows that the 2nd Respondent won the highest number of votes and was duly declared winner.”
Consequently, the court, resolved all the issues that Atiku raised in his petition, against him.
“On the whole, having resolved all the issues against the Appellants, it is my view that there is no merit in this appeal and it is hereby dismissed.
“Judgement of the lower court delivered on September 6 is hereby affirmed. I shall make no order as to cost,” the Supreme Court held.
KanyiDaily recalls that the INEC had previously declared Tinubu of the APC the winner of the presidential election, with 8,794,726 votes, ahead of Atiku of the PDP with 6,984,520 votes and Peter Obi of the Labour Party with 6,101,533 votes.
