Nigeria: Inside the minds of the judges who will seal Tinubu’s fate

In less than 48 hours President Bola Tinubu will know if he remains Nigeria’s head of state.

Presidential contenders Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party have for the past four months been trying to convince a panel of five judges to upturn Tinubu’s electoral victory. The lawyers have presented their cases and the judges are now deliberating.

Both Obi and Atiku are challenging Tinubu’s victory based on the credibility of the poll as well as his qualification. They want the court to disqualify the president and/or declare a rerun. 

Since Nigeria adopted the Presidential system of government in 1979, no court has ever upturned the result of a presidential poll, even when such elections had credibility issues or when winners were declared without fulfilling all conditions. However, at the sub-national level, the courts have removed no fewer than 12 governors within the same period.

So what might happen in the case against Tinubu? We ask an Appeal Court judge and other legal experts.