The Supreme Court has delivered its verdict on the applications filed by presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu. The court rejected their claims that Tinubu did not secure the required 25 percent of votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court emphasized that the FCT does not hold a special status. Consequently, the court concurred with the previous judgment of the Appeal Court that the 25 percent threshold is insignificant. By doing so, the Supreme Court endorsed the decision of the election tribunal, asserting that there was no fault in its ruling.
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal had previously declared that the FCT should not be accorded a higher status than any other state in the country. This verdict was the result of the petitions lodged by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, who contested that Tinubu failed to secure the majority of votes in the presidential election held on February 25.
As of the time of writing this report, the judgment was still ongoing, further details on the verdict will be provided as they become available.