No sooner were the results declared than petitions and counter-petitions contesting their outcomes started flying around.
The presidential election had been hotly contested as the duo of PDP's Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party's Peter Obi stormed the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal (PEPT) sitting in Abuja demanding that the results be overturned in their favour, insisting that there were mass irregularities.
They were sure that Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate did not win the elections. They also contested the elegibility of his vice, Kashim Shettima who they alleged was already a senatorial candidate before also accepting to be Tinubu's running mate.
Well, the onus of proof was on them as they argued their cases, calling different witnesses in several weeks of litigation. At the end, the tribunal found no sufficient grounds to void the elections that ushered in current president, Tinubu as they they could not prove their cases beyond all reasonable doubts.
Well, a new dimension was soon to be added to the drama as the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar went to the United States in search of evidence to nail Tinubu because he felt he didn't actually attend the Chicago State University (CSU) as he claimed.
And even though the university confirmed that Tinubu actually attended the school as he claimed, Atiku and Peter Obi still went to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict of the Tribunal.
Again, they lost.
However, there were landmark judgements in other elections. For instance, Alex Otti was returned as the legitimately elected governor of Abia State by the courts despite opposition to his election. Ditto for the governors of Benue, Adamawa and Ogun who all won their cases in court.
Also, Elisha Abbo (APC) lost his Adamawa North Senatorial District seat to Amos Yohanna (PDP) after the Tribunal ruling, while while former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam was also thrown out of the Senate following an Abuja Court of Appeal judgement. Emmanuel Udende of the APC has since replaced him as the representative from Benue North Senatorial District in the upper house of the National Assembly.
Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP) also beat Abubakar Ohere of the APC to claim the Kogi Central Senatorial seat in the Senate.
Some of other cases are still being fought in several courts and tribunals. More surprises are expected to be thrown up as the courts rule in some of these cases in the coming days.
However, keen political analysts believe a lot of time, energy and resources could have been saved in lengthy court cases had there been a more coordinated elections that discouraged underhand practises, as well as the exploitation of loopholes in the Electoral Act by desperate politicians.
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