Nigeria's top court hears appeal to quash Tinubu's victory in February poll

Nigeria's Supreme Court on Monday began hearing an appeal by an opposition candidate to quash a court decision upholding President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February elections.

After months of deliberation, a court in September rejected applications by Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party to annul Tinubu’s victory over alleged fraud and irregularities.

The two men had come second and third respectively in the vote.

Abubakar then filed an appeal, saying the judiciary had committed a “serious error” in its judgement.

The seven Supreme Court judges are expected to rule in the coming weeks on this latest challenge. It has the final say in presidential election petitions.

Nearly 25 million Nigerians voted in the February polls in an election that was generally calm, but was marked by delays in counting and failures in the electronic transfer of results.

The final results were widely accepted by the international community, which saw Tinubu declared the winner with 37 per cent of the vote.

No legal challenge to the outcome of a presidential elections has ever succeeded in Nigeria which returned to democracy in 1999.