Senior Judge Discloses EU, ECOWAS Reports on Nigerian Elections Have No Judicial Value

Although the European Union (EU) and ECOWAS delegations are accredited to observe Nigeria’s elections, their reports on the elections are ‘valueless’ and ‘inadmissible’ in Nigerian courts, a senior judge ruled on Wednesday.

Moses Ugo, a judge of Nigeria’s second highest court, the Court of Appeal, said this while reading his ruling as a member of the Presidential Election Petition Court.

You would recall, the five-member panel on the PEPC dismissed the appeals filed by three opposition parties against the election of President Bola Tinubu.

While declaring support for his fellow judges on the panel, Mr. Ugo spoke on why the EU and ECOWAS reports which criticized parts of the 2023 presidential election were inadmissible in court.

The EU-EOM, in its final report on the 2023 presidential poll, said though the elections showed the commitment of Nigerians to democracy, it also exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signaled a need for further legal and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.

 In his ruling, Mr Ugo said the EU report tendered by both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was inadmissible since the makers of the report did not present themselves in court to face cross-examination to authenticate their opinions.