What’s Next for Peter Obi, Atiku After Losing at the Tribunal? A Neusroom Explainer
Mixed reactions have trailed the recent ruling by the Presidential Election Tribunal, which affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
The ruling, delivered by a five-man panel on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, at around 9:15 PM WAT, declared Tinubu Nigeria’s duly and lawfully elected president. It asserted that the petitioners failed to provide substantial evidence to support their petitions against President Tinubu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While it took the Presidential Election Tribunal 169 days to rule on the case, in what many considered one of Nigeria’s most heated, albeit controversial, election petitions, it appears that the battle for control of Africa’s largest economy is not over.
The Labour Party, in an official statement issued hours after the ruling, rejected the position of the Appeal Court Justices, raising speculation that the Party might file an appeal at the Supreme Court.
“The Labour Party watched with dismay and trepidation the dismissal of petitions by the five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani today. We reject the outcome of the judgment in its entirety because justice was not served, and it did not reflect the law and the desire of the people,” the statement signed by Obiora Ifoh, the Party’s National Publicity Secretary, reads in part.
Also, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the verdict, citing that ‘the judgment is against reason, against the facts and evidence presented in Court; against the relevant Electoral Laws, Guidelines, and Regulations, as well as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).’
What happens next?
From Olusegun Obasanjo vs. Olu Falae in 1999 to Muhammadu Buhari vs. Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, Buhari and Atiku vs. Yar’Adua in 2007, Buhari vs. Jonathan, and Atiku vs. Buhari in 2019, presidential elections have always been contested in court.
However, while no court has overturned a presidential election, yesterday’s ruling by the Tribunal is not regarded as final.
Kolawole Babatunde, a legal practitioner, told Neusroom that “after elections have been conducted and results announced, only the court can determine the legality or otherwise of the said election.
He also said that the Supreme Court has the final say and has the power to either affirm or overrule the verdict of the Tribunal.
According to section 132 (9), “an appeal from a decision of an Election Tribunal shall be heard and disposed of within 60 days from the date of the delivery of judgment of the Tribunal.”
This electoral act provision is in conformity with section 233 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that “the Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction, to the exclusion of any other court of law in Nigeria, to hear and determine appeals from the Court of Appeal.”
With just three months for the Supreme Court to put an end to the presidential election dispute, which is expected to be on or before November 6, 2023 (if weekends are to be included), Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar are to appeal the judgment of the Tribunal within 14 days, according to Section 2 of the Supreme Court Election Appeals Practice Directions.
