Nigerian Supreme Court sidesteps Bola Tinubu’s certificate forgery, affirms president’s 2023 election victory

While the decision would allow Mr. Tinubu to remain in office as president, he’s still likely to face a fresh battle over the forged certificate if he decides to seek reelection in 2027 because today’s judgment did not go into the veracity of the document, but only that it was too late to tender it now.

Mr Abubakar did not file the evidence at the Court of Appeal, which is the initial court of jurisdiction over presidential election petitions, because he was unable to obtain the evidence on time from the United States.

The court’s decision appeared to solidify the fears of Nigerians, who warned prior to today’s ruling that the court would be passing a negative opinion about Nigeria as a country where forgery, identity theft, and other serious crimes are condoned even at the highest levels.

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Another opposition leader Peter Obi suggested earlier in the week that a culture of corruption in the judiciary would hamper it from delivering a clear verdict based on evidence before it.

But the court settled the ambiguity over whether or not the Nigerian Constitution required the scoring of at least 25 percent of percent in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, for a candidate to be declared the winner.

The Supreme Court justices, siding with their colleagues at the Court of Appeal, said voters in the Nigerian capital are not unique, and their votes should carry the same weight as citizens in the rest of the country.

The court also ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission had the power to set guidelines for elections. The department faced criticism for failing to implement electronic transmission of election results in violation of its guidelines and public statements in the weeks and days leading to the February 23 exercise.

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