A Nigerian appeals court on Wednesday (September 6) rejected all opposition party petitions to overturn President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in February’s disputed presidential election. The judge declared that the opposition petitions “are hereby dismissed” and Mr. Tinubu declared the winner of the presidential election.
The five judges of the Abuja Court of Appeal had been deliberating for months on a series of lawsuits brought by the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labor Party (LP), which denounce fraud and irregularities. The Labor Party’s claim, which centered on accusations of fraud and misconduct by electoral authorities, as well as allegations of Bola Tinubu’s ineligibility, was dismissed. “This motion is declared unfounded,” one of the judges said after more than six hours of detailed reading of the judgment.
The PDP also saw its request rejected. In a first judgment earlier on Wednesday, the five judges also invalidated the petition of a small opposition party, Allied Peoples Movement, which asked for the cancellation of the poll. The applicants nevertheless still have the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court, according to the lawyers. Security has been tightened around this jurisdiction in the Nigerian capital, with police and defense forces cordoning off access to the building with roadblocks.
“Massive Fraud”
Nearly 25 million Nigerians voted in late February in a poll that was generally calm but marred by delays in counting votes and major shortcomings in the electronic transfer of results, leading voters and the opposition to denounce “massive fraud”. The electoral commission blasted the “unfounded and irresponsible” accusations.
At the end of the poll, the candidate of the Congress of Progressives (APC) and ex-governor of Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 71, was declared the winner with 37% of the vote. He beat former Vice President Atiku Abubakar (29%) of the PDP and Labor candidate Peter Obi (25%). The emergence of this outsider, favorite of the youth, against the two main political parties was a first in the democratic history of Nigeria.
Some voters and opposition parties claim that system failures when downloading results allowed manipulation of ballots and disparities in the results of manual counts at polling stations. International observers, including those from the European Union (EU), also noted major logistical problems, disenfranchised voters and a lack of transparency.
President Tinubu’s government had shown its confidence in recent days. “Because he has confidence in the judiciary, he believes that the mandate Nigerians freely gave him in the election will stand,” Ajuri Ngelale, spokesperson for the presidency, said on Channels TV this week. “He’s not worried, just because he knows he won the election. »
Economic crisis
After taking office, Bola Tinubu immediately launched a series of reforms aimed at revitalizing the economy and investment, but these initiatives led to a sudden rise in the cost of living, angering the population. On May 29, at the time of his inauguration, the president eliminated fuel subsidies, which had the effect of quadrupling the price of gasoline and leading to a sharp increase in food prices.
Since 2016, Nigeria has suffered a severe economic crisis which has worsened with the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Russian offensive in Ukraine. The currency is weak, the foreign debt enormous and unemployment is rampant. The country is also trying to fight against armed groups carrying out kidnappings in particular in the north-west and the center, to put an end to an Islamist insurgency which has been operating for fourteen years in the north-east and to curb separatist unrest in the south. -East.
Bola Tinubu is due to go to the G20 summit in New Delhi next weekend, a move that is part of the eventuality of Nigeria’s candidacy to become a member of this organization, the presidency announced on Sunday.
