26th October, 2023
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 against the judgment of Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC affirming victory of Bola Tinubu of All Progressives Congress, APC in the February 25 presidential election.
The apex court dismissed the appeal after deciding that the issues canvassed were similar to the ones in the matter filed by Atiku Abubakar against the PEPC judgment earlier dismissed.
Justice Inyang Okoro delivered the lead judgment.
PEPC had on Sept. 6, dismissed Obi’s petitions for lacking in merit and affirmed the election of President Bola Tinubu.
However, Obi had through his lead counsel Mr Levi Uzoukwu, SAN also prayed the apex court to set aside the judgment of the PEPC that dismissed his petition.
Uzoukwu prayed the court to allow the appeal of his client and grant all the prayers sought.
But the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, (APC) each urged the court to dismiss the appeals for want of merit and for being frivolous.
Specifically, President Tinubu’s lawyer, Mr Wole Olanipekun, SAN described the appeals as lacking in merit .
Olanipekun specifically told the court that the appeal filed by Atiku was abusive in nature and asked the court to dismiss the appeal.
Mr Mahmoud Yakubu, SAN for INEC and Mr Akin Olujimi similarly asked the panel to dismiss the appeals for want of merit.
But Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the PEPC in its ruling on Thursday.
Datails later