The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld that the election of President Tinubu cannot be nullified because of failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission to transmit electronic result electronically.
The apex court, in the Justice delivered by Justice Iyang Okoro agreed with the lower court that iREV is not a collation centre and that there is an elaborate arrangement to ensure that copies of results are available.
“The unavailability of the iREV cannot be a ground for the nullification of the election,”
“The failure to tranmit results to irev did not affect the results of the election,” said the apex court
Electoral Act an election cannot be invalidated by provisions of this Act if it appears that the election was conducted substantially in line with the Act
The Presidential Election Petition Court had ruled that that non transmission of results electronically is not a basis to challenge an election.
In the September 6 judgment, the PEPC held that INEC has the right to issue guidelines and manuals in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
It also said INEC was at liberty to determine the procedure of how its election will be conducted.
Atiku and Obi had asked for nullification of the election over non compliance with the rules which INEC set out in its guidelines, which includes E-transmission of results.
However, Justice Tsammani said manuals and guidelines cannot supersede the express provisions of the Electoral Act and it is only a contravention of the Act that can be a basis of an election petition.
Justice Tsammani held that what the law provides for is physical collation of results and that transmission of results using the BVAS to IRev is simply to afford the public the opportunity to view the polling unit results on Election Day
Tsammani, who is also the Presiding Justice of the PEPC held that the petitioners had failed to prove acts of omission of the provisions of the Electoral Act which is the only pathway to supporting their claims of non compliance with the electoral act.
