Absence of Results on IReV Not Enough to Annul Election, Court Affirms

In a ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court declared that the February 2023 presidential election cannot be deemed void since the results are not accessible on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). 

Leader of the five-member Supreme Court panel Justice Inyang Okoro rendered a decision in appeals brought by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), contesting the Presidential Elections Petitions Court’s (PEPC) confirmation of Bola Tinubu’s victory in February.

According to him, it is obvious that the petition aiming to void the election due to noncompliance needs to be prepared with evidence as well as proof of how the noncompliance impacted the results.

He added that the petitioner abandoned the duties imposed on them to prove the gravity of noncompliance and its effect.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is empowered by the Electoral Act to choose the most effective technique to employ during an election, according to Justice Okoro.

Speaking further, he said the absence of results on the IReV cannot serve as a basis for annulling the election.

According to Justice Okoro, in order to demonstrate the purported noncompliance, the petitioner had to present solid proof. He claims that none of the evidence they want the court to consider is original or certified true.

In his opinion, the election’s result remained unaffected by the presidential election results not being accessible on the IReV Portal.