EIU predicts S’Court won’t overturn Tinubu’s presidency
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an arm of The Economist of London, has predicted that the victory of President Bola Tinubu would not be overturned at the Supreme Court, according to Business Day report.
Recall that last year, EIU had predicted victory for Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the 2023 presidential election.
The UK-based platform, in the country report, said the controversy of the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket will not affect Tinubu’s chances in the elections.
“We expect Tinubu to take the presidency, and recent developments have only reinforced our thinking. It does not appear that a Muslim-Muslim ticket will weigh significantly on Tinubu’s electoral chances,” EIU said.
In its latest country report on Nigeria, EIU said “Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, won the February presidential election with only 36.6 percent of the vote. The result is being contested in court, but EIU does not expect it to be overturned.
This analysis was premised on the fact that since 1999, the Nigerian Supreme Court has not upturned a presidential vote, not even the 2007 general elections that was so flawed even late President Umaru Musa Yaradua, the key beneficiary admitted the votes were rigged.
The analysts noted that “frustration with the two-party system was made evident by support for Peter Obi of the fringe Labour Party in the presidential election.
“Backed by unions, he will undoubtedly build the party’s profile and become a more formidable force ahead of the next election, in 2027,” they said.
The report acknowledges that Tinubu has shrugged off low popularity to begin a campaign of market reform on a scale and intensity that is virtually unparalleled in Nigerian history but expects as the president’s low level of political capital erodes, his reform agenda will lose momentum.
Tinubu upon inauguration announced deep reforms including fixing Nigeria’s multiple exchange rate problem and removing wasteful fuel subsidies, policies that “could deliver a stronger economy in the medium to long term but that means short-term pain for consumers,” the report said.
