The Supreme Court has ruled that the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results live via the IREV system did not impact the outcome of the presidential election, as the IREV is not a results collation system. The seven-member panel, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, declared that the non-transmission of results could not justify the nullification of the presidential election results.
Justice Okoro delivered the lead judgment in the appeal by Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stating, "It is my opinion that the failure to transmit results to the IREV did not affect the result of the election. This issue is resolved in favor of the respondents."
Furthermore, Justice Okoro emphasized that the issue of IREV could only arise when the hard copies of the results did not exist. He noted that Atiku did not provide original or duplicate copies of results demonstrating non-compliance. The Supreme Court also dismissed the issue of the 25 percent requirement for Abuja as a non-issue.
