Supreme Court of Nigeria which is the apex court in Nigeria has dismissed the case filed by Waziri Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi challenging the declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.
Application by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP to adduce fresh evidence on the Chicago State University (CSU) diploma presented to INEC by Tinubu was vehemently refused and dismissed by the Supreme Court.
The deposition by the Registrar of the CSU, Caleb Westberg, has been rejected and ruled inadmissible on the ground that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to countenance same because the 180 days timeline for determination of election petition had elapsed.
That since the time for trial at the Court of Appeal had elapsed, the Supreme Court cannot accept fresh evidence on appeal.
The Supreme Court also ruled that in the petition filed by Atiku, facts of forgery were not pleaded and no application for amendment of the petition or extension of time was filed. That even if such application for amendment or extension of time was brought, it would have been refused.
The Supreme Court also ruled that no issue for determination predicated on certificate forgery was raised by Atiku in his Brief of Argument.
The Supreme Court equally held that the conditions for introduction of fresh evidence on appeal have not been met.
The court ruled further that the inability of INEC to transmit election results to iREV is not enough to cancel the election as the portal is not a collation center.
On the issue of double nomination the court ruled that the matter has been treated in other judgement.
The Supreme Court also delivered judgment on the issue of 25% of total votes in FCT Abuja and ruled that the figure is not mandatory.
Peter Obi’s cases were all dismissed for lacking merits.