On Wednesday, the Presidential Election Petitions Court said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was free to choose the method of transmitting election results during the presidential election on February 25, 2023.
According to Sections 52 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC was free to regulate the way in which election results were delivered during the poll, according to the five-member panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
The Tribunal consequently dismissed the petition of the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, which argued that the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) be annulled on the basis on the “failure” of the commission’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to upload election results electronically in real time.
The Tribunal also dismissed Obi and LP’s petitions on 25 per cent votes of Tinubu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), saying that Abuja is like other states.
The court also said the petitioners – Obi and the LP — failed to prove that Tinubu was convicted for money laundering in the United States.
The Justice Tsammani panel ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners.