Presidential election court admits INEC’s final results declaring Tinubu president-elect

The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Tuesday admitted the final results of the 25 February election declaring Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as Nigeria’s president-elect.

A five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani received the documents after they were tendered by Atiku Abubakar’s lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, on Tuesday.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, on 1 March declared Mr Tinubu winner of the 25 February presidential election.

But Mr Tinubu’s declaration triggered multiple lawsuits seeking to upturn his victory. Mr Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s president on Monday while the cases challenging his election continue in court.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku, who came second in the race, urged the court to nullify Mr Tinubu’s victory on account of alleged electoral fraud.

Atiku urged the court declare him president or order a fresh election.

At Tuesday’s hearing heralding the commencement of full trial, Atiku’s lawyer, Mr Jegede, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), tendered before the court “final declaration of results” from the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The petitioner is also praying the court to upturn Mr Tinubu’s victory on account of the latter’s inability to secure 25 per cent of lawful votes cast in the FCT as statutorily required.

The lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abubakar Mahmoud; Mr Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun; and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, did not object to the documents.