Supreme Court has thrown out the appeal of Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The two main opposition candidates had sought to reverse February’s presidential election victory, alleging it was marred by irregularities.
The Election Petition Court upheld Mr Tinubu’s victory last month, but the opposition insisted Nigeria’s highest court should quash the judgement.
A presidential election result has never been overturned in Nigeria.
The judges first dismissed the challenge by Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the poll, and then rejected a similar one from Peter Obi, who came third.
The election was the most fiercely contested since the end of military rule in 1999, with three strong candidates for the first time. Tinubu won with 37% of votes cast, against 29% for Mr Abubakar and 25% for Mr Obi.
The Supreme Court says the failure by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically did not affect the outcome of the election and could not warrant the nullification of the result of the presidential election.
Justice John Okoro, made the pronouncement in a lead judgment and also dismissed the issue of the 25 per cent requirement for Abuja, as a none issue.
