On Thursday, the Supreme Court will reach a verdict on the protracted legal battle stemming from the presidential election held on February 25. Initially, five petitions challenged the declaration of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the victor in a presidential contest featuring 17 candidates. However, only three of these petitions progressed to the apex court.
Two of the petitions were withdrawn before being heard by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal. Of the three petitions brought before the Supreme Court, only two reached the final stage of litigation.
Notably, a seven-member panel of the apex court recently dismissed the case filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), which sought to annul President Tinubu’s election victory. The party reluctantly withdrew its appeal, a move the panel deemed as academic and lacking legal merit.
As a result, the remaining appeals are those filed by former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party (LP) candidate, Mr. Peter Obi. The apex court reserved judgment on these appeals following the adoption of final briefs of argument by all parties on the past Monday.
