Nigeria’s Supreme Court has held that the outcome of the 2023 presidential election was unaffected by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s failure to post the election results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal in real time
The Supreme Court also agreed with the Court of Appeal that the Federal Capital Territory is no different from the other states and failure to get 25% in the FCT makes no difference in the results.
The head of the seven-member panel, Justice Inyang Okoro, who read the judgement, said, “When IReV fails, it does not stop the collation of the results. It deprives people of viewing results. The nonfunction will affect the trust of the electorates in the election.
“Unavailability of IReV cannot be a ground for the election to be nullified.
“The failure did not affect the outcome of the election. The issue is resolved against the appellants.“
The Supreme Court also agreed with the Court of Appeal that the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is no different from the other states and makes no difference in the results.
Justice Okoro asked, “Are you saying if someone scores 25% votes in 30 states but not in Abuja, he should not be president? Is that how you interpret the law?
“That is not the law. Supreme Court agrees with the Court of Appeal,” he added.
Details later…
Chioma Kalu
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