The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal late Wednesday afternoon affirmed the Independent National Electoral Commission’s discretion to determine the mode of election result transmission for the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.

The five-member panel, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, referred to Sections 52 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, which granted INEC the freedom to prescribe the method of transmitting election results during the poll.

The Tribunal also dismissed the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, which sought to annul the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress based on the alleged “failure” of INEC’s Results Viewing Portal to electronically upload election results in real-time.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal has declared that the Federal Capital Territory does not hold a higher status than other states in the country.

Justice Haruna Tsammani, the lead judge of the five-man panel declared this during the tribunal’s sitting on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to him, Section 134 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) stipulates that a presidential candidate must attain or score a majority of votes cast in a presidential election, where two or more candidates are involved, and at least 25% in two-thirds of the 36 States and FCT to meet the constitutional requirement to be declared as duly elected as President of Nigeria.