By Eric Ikhilae, Abuja
- PDP candidate’s appeal lacks merit, says Supreme Court
- Atiku: I’ll keep fighting
- Buhari: it’s time to move on
- It’s affirmation of collective voice, says Tinubu
- Lawan, Gbajabiamila,Okorocha, Ambode, NGF, ACF, others okay decision
- Sanwo-Olu, Oyetola, Lalong, Akeredolu hail position
In a dramatic twist, the Supreme Court Wednesday affirmed President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the February 23 presidential election.
A seven-man panel of the court, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, described the appeal as lacking in merit.
“The panel has read all the documents and exhibits filed in the case for two weeks and found the appeal to be lacking in merit,” Muhammad said in a terse judgment.
The chief justice said the court would make its full decision public at a later date to be communicated to parties.
Read Also: What next for Atiku after Supreme Court’s ruling?
The judge said he and members of the panel had read all the processes and exhibits filed in the case for two weeks and found the appeal was lacking in merit.
Other members of the panel are Justices Rhodes Bode-Vivour, Olukayode Ariwola, Inyang Okoro, Ejembi Eko, Amiru Sanusi and Uwani Abba-Aji.
Before giving its ruling, the court elected to hear only one of the seven appeals filed in respect of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which upheld President Muhammadu Buhari’s election and dismissed the petition by the PDP and Atiku
The court, in a ruling, rejected the position by the PDP and Atiku that it should hear all the appeals separately.
At the inception of proceedings, Justice Muhammad noticed that seven appeals were filed over the PEPC judgment and suggested that the court would hear the main appeal, which decision will cover the others.
Lawyers to Buhari, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and All Progressives Congress (APC) – Wole Olanipekun, Yunus Usman and Lateef Fagbemi (all senior advocates) agreed with the court’s position
But, lawyer to the PDP and Atiku, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), disagreed with the suggestion by Justice Muhammad and urged the court to allow him adopt all the processes he filed in respect of all the appeals.
The disagreement among lawyers to both sides, on how the court should proceed, resulted in some arguments, following which the court stood down proceedings for a while.
When proceedings resumed, the court gave its ruling in which it elected to hear the substantive appeal.
The court overruled the position by PDP and Atiku that their other interlocutory appeals should be heard after taking the substantive one.
The apex court was of the view that it would be unnecessary to hear the interlocutory appeals when its judgment on the substantive appeal, marked SC1211/2019 was sufficient to resolve all the issues raised in the other related appeals.
The other appeals were marked SC1212 to 1218/2019. Besides the cross-appeal filed by the APC, the others were interlocutory appeals filed by Atiku and the PDP.
After its ruling, the court directed parties to adopt their processes in respect of the substantive appeal.
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