The Supreme Court has decided to reserve its judgment regarding the appeals filed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party. Both appeals seek to overturn the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) related to the Feb. 25 election.
The PEPC, on Sept. 6, had dismissed Atiku and Obi’s petitions, affirming President Bola Tinubu’s election as valid. A seven-man panel of justices, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, heard both appeals in Abuja and will communicate the judgment date to the parties.
Atiku’s appeal, which rests on 35 grounds, argues that the PEPC’s judgment was a miscarriage of justice and failed to nullify the election on the basis of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
Obi also sought to set aside the PEPC’s judgment through his counsel, Mr. Levi Uzoukwu, and asked the apex court to grant his appeal and all the prayers sought.
Respondents, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC), urged the court to dismiss the appeals for lacking merit and being frivolous.
In particular, President Tinubu’s lawyer, Mr. Wole Olanipekun, described Atiku’s appeal as abusive and asked for its dismissal. INEC and the APC similarly requested the court to dismiss the appeals.
Both Atiku and Obi challenge the PEPC’s Sept. 6 judgment, which upheld President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the Feb. 25 presidential polls. Although the petitions were consolidated, they were heard separately.
