By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s presidential election tribunal on Wednesday rejected an opposition challenge to Bola Tinubu’s win in February’s disputed vote, following a pattern seen in previous election years in Africa’s most populous country.
No legal challenge to the outcome of a presidential election has succeeded in Nigeria, which returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost uninterrupted military rule and has a history of electoral fraud.
Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who came second and third respectively, had asked the court to invalidate the election, alleging irregularities.
Judge Haruna Tsammani, reading out a lengthy ruling on behalf of the tribunal’s panel of five justices, rejected Obi’s petition point-by-point. He was due to move onto Abubakar’s petition next, which was also expected to be dismissed.
European observers had said in June the elections were marred by problems including operational failures and a lack of transparency that reduced public trust in the process.
However, the elections came and went with little sign of any groundswell of popular opposition, and Tinubu has been accepted by the international community as Nigeria’s legitimate leader. As the tribunal was giving its ruling, he was in India preparing to take part in the G20 summit there.
Atiku and Obi can appeal to the country’s Supreme Court to strike down the tribunal’s ruling. Any appeal must be concluded within 60 days of the date of the tribunal judgment.
(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Alison Williams)
