By Babatunde Solanke
Since the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, elections have been characterized by controversy, violence, and subsequent petitions by the losers of the elections
According to the Constititution,the Court of Appeal, the official election petition tribunal for presidential elections, is where petitions challenging the outcome of an election are filed.
The First Schedule to the Electoral Act 2022 contains the procedure for the election petition tribunal.
The Allied Peoples Movement, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Labour Party, along with their respective presidential candidates, filed a petition with the tribunal in an attempt to overturn President Bola Tinubu’s election as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Today’s the Presidential Election Petition Court verdict take place at the Court of Appeal, Three Arms zone, Abuja.
Bellow is the presidential election petitions in the country since 1999 till date
1999: Falae vs Obasanjo
Nigeria held its presidential elections on February 27, 1999
Olusegun Obasanjo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was declared winner by the electoral body. Obasano , a retired general from Ogun State, defeated Ondo State born politician, Olu Falae, who contested on the jointly sponsored ticket by the Alliance for Democracy(AD) and the All People’s Party(APP).
Falae, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said the election was a fraud and he quickly dashed to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, disputing Obasanjo’s victory as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
At the end of the day, Falae lost in an April 19, 1999 verdict. The judgment was delivered by Justice Dahiru Musdapher who declared that Falae’s case lacked merit and “ought to be dismissed”.
2003: Buhari vs Obasanjo
The retired General Muhammadu Buhari, the then presidential candidate All Nigeria Peoples Party’s (ANPP), submitted a case contesting the validity of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s 2003 re-election
The Katsina born general lost Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja.
Buhari in his petition before the court, prayed the court to declare Obasanjo’s re-election unconstitutional, due to his alleged corruption, disregard for the Electoral Act of 2002, and lack of eligibility to run for office at the time of the election.
Buhari did not stop at that as he proceeded to the Supreme Court, but the apex court affirmed judgment that validated the Tribunal’s earlier ruling.
2007: Buhari and Atiku vs Yar’Adua
Yar’Adua, now late was declared Nigeria’s president despite the fact that both domestic and foreign observers declared that the results fell short of international standards.
The duo of Atiku and Buhari disputed the election in court, and the Supreme Court ultimately, upheld Yar’Adua’s victory at the polls.
2011: Buhari vs Jonathan
In the presidential election of April 16, 2011, Buhari, the Congress for Progressive Change nominee, failed woefullyl in his attempt to overturn President Goodluck Jonathan’s victory after he was declared the winner by a seven-member Supreme Court bench.
2019: Atiku vs Buhari
In that year’s election, held on February 23, 2019, the leading candidates were President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress(APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar
In a ruling issued on September 11, 2019, the Court of Appeal upheld Buhari’s re-election following an election year devoid of any lawsuit, and on October 30, 2019, the Supreme Court decided unanimously that Atiku’s case was without merit.
2023: Obi and Atiku vs Tinubu
The Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi went to court to challenge INEC’s declaration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the nation’s next president.
Recall that the chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu had, on March 1, declared Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election, having scored the highest votes cast in the election.
Obi and his party, LP the APM, Alhaji A Atiku and the PDP) are, in their various petitions seeking the nullification of Tinubu’s election on the grounds of substantial non-compliance with the Constitution, the Electoral Act and INEC’s guidelines for the conduct of the presidential election, as well as double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
They also claimed that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the said election and that his declaration and return as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was illegal, null and void.
Five political parties had earlier filed petitions against Tinubu’s election, but, the Action Alliance (AA) and the Action Peoples Party (APP) withdrew their petitions, leaving the petitions by Obi, Atiku, their political parties and the APM.