Video from TVC on September 06, 2023

The appeals court dismissed opposition claims to Nigeria's presidential election win. The appeals court in Nigeria rejected petitions filed by the opposition challenging the legitimacy of President Bola Tinubu's victory in the February election on Wednesday, ruling that the political parties were unable to prove their cases alleging voting irregularities and questioning Tinubu's qualifications. 

Three opposition parties claimed that the election results were unlawfully disclosed and that Tinubu was unqualified to run for president since he was a Guinean and reportedly lacked the necessary academic credentials.

The opposition, who had threatened to protest if the court validated Tinubu's victory, condemned the verdict but did not immediately announce if they would appeal. The judgment can be challenged within 60 days to Nigeria's Supreme Court. 

In the Nigerian capital of Abuja, a five-member justice panel dismissed most of the petitions filed by the Peoples Democratic Party's Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president who finished second in the election, the Labour Party's Peter Obi, and the Allied Peoples Movement.

The tribunal decided that Obi was unable to substantiate his assertions that the Nigerian electoral commission did not follow due procedure in releasing the results of the ballot, that voting was plagued by anomalies, and that he, not Tinubu, won the race with a majority of votes. 

The court also concluded that he failed to establish Tinubu was ever arrested on drug charges in the United States, banning him from running for president. "It is clear that the petitioners have failed to discharge the burden of proof imposed by law," stated panel chair Haruna Tsammani. "They have failed to leave any convincing, credible, or acceptable evidence."

H. E. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

It also dismissed a plea filed by the Allied Peoples Movement to overturn Tinubu's election on the grounds that his running partner, Vice President Kashim Shettima, had not been legitimately nominated to run. It stated that Shettima satisfied the basic constitutional requirements for running.

Abubakar's assertions that Tinubu is a Guinean citizen and so unable to run in the election were also dismissed by the court, which decided that the Peoples Democratic Party candidate could not substantiate his case. 

Tinubu, who is now attending the G20 conference in India, has refuted all of the petitioners' accusations. Various support groups shouted songs at the court premises in Abuja amid tight security to show solidarity with their political parties and to encourage the judiciary to "do the right thing."

According to James Mike, a protester, they stood outside the court to let the courts know that they are "the last hope of the common man."

The tribunal has the authority to confirm Tinubu's election victory, proclaim someone else the winner, cancel the poll, or order a fresh election. If the justices upheld the petitions and nullified the presidential election, it would have been a first in Nigerian history.

Since Nigeria's restoration to democracy in 1999, all presidential elections have been fought in court, with the exception of one. None of them were overturned.

Police in Abuja released a statement Tuesday urging civilians "to be cautious in their actions and statements," stating security personnel would not "condone activities capable of inciting violence or causing a descent into anarchy."

Tinubu, 71, was elected with less than 50% of the vote, a first in Nigerian history. Observers mostly regarded the election as an improvement over the 2019 election, however opponents noted that delays in uploading — and reporting — election results may have allowed for ballot manipulation.

Tinubu has proposed policies that he claims would repair the country's struggling economy, but which have further pinched millions of impoverished and hungry Nigerians during his first 100 days in office. Many of Nigeria's changes, while well-intended, have been badly implemented, according to opponents.

A presidential election can only be cancelled if there is proof that the Independent National Electoral Commission did not respect the law and behaved in ways that could have influenced the outcome of the election.

On Tuesday, Nigeria Labor Congress employees began a two-day "warning strike" to protest the rising cost of living due to the elimination of gas subsidies, threatening to "shut down" Africa's largest economy if their demands for enhanced welfare are not satisfied. It was their second strike in over a month.

The Nigerian government asked Nigerians to be patient with Tinubu. Nigeria's information minister, Mohammed Idris, stated that while steps taken by the government "to save the country from hitting the rocks caused momentary discomfort to Nigerians," the president has "never failed in his appeal to Nigerians to see the current inconveniences as a price we must all pay to save our country from disappearing."