A court in Nigeria has rejected challenges to the result of that country’s election.
The Nigerian Appeal Court found that petitions brought by Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar were both without merit.
Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in February and March in Nigeria. Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious, with 36.6% of the vote. Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 29.1%, while Obi of the Labour Party (LP) was third with 25.4%.
In the parliamentary elections, the APC won 176 of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives, with the PDP winning 118, and the LP 34 seats.
The remaining seats were shared between seven other parties.
Following the election, both Obi and Abubakar claimed that there had been widespread fraud.
However, the Appeal Court unanimously found that Tinubu’s win was fair.
Tinubu welcomed the ruling, with a spokesman for him saying: ‘[It] reflects the continuing maturation of Nigeria’s legal system, and the advancement of Africa’s largest democracy at a time when our democratic system of government is under test in other parts of the continent.’
However, the LP rejected the ruling, saying ‘justice was not served’.
[Image: Yemi festus, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129072133]