The Moment (London)
28 December 2011
THE Supreme Court of Nigeria on Wednesday, December 28, upheld the decision of Court of Appeal that President Goodluck Jonathan as winner of April 16 presidential election.
The Supreme Court in its judgement delivered by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher, held that Jonathan was validly elected by Nigerians following the failure of the opposition prove its case beyond doubts.
In throwing out the opposition’s challenge to President Jonathan’s election victory, the Supreme Court rejected calls for a recount in several parts of the country.
The aggrieved party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) alleged had filed a petition alleging irregularities in the conduct of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and asked that fresh election be ordered for its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) and Jonathan.
Jonathan was declared winner with 59 percent of the vote, while his nearest rival, Buhari, who scored 32 percent, refused to accept the outcome of the election.
The CPC thus, party filed a petition to challenge the election results in May.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, which acted as a court of first instance in the petition, had on November 1, dismissed the petition, saying it was baseless, founded on hearsay and lacking in merit.
The tribunal, while dismissing CPC’s petition, rejected the party’s allegation that INEC used military vehicles to convey sensitive election materials to states because the party, CPC, failed to establish how the use of military vehicles negatively affected the election.
The tribunal also declared that INEC did nothing wrong in refusing to release the electronic database demanded by the CPC to prove its petition.
The said that releasing the electronic database to the CPC would expose the secrecy of the election and as such would run against the law and could also create security challenges.
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