His two main challengers, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, are seeking to overturn the February presidential election, alleging that it was marred by irregularities.

The Supreme Court had 60 days to pass its judgement. But it has decided to fast-track the ruling after hearing the arguments of the challengers on Monday.

Mr Abubakar put forward new evidence, saying a certificate that President Tinubu presented to the election authorities differed from the one purportedly issued by Chicago State University.

The other challenger, Mr Obi, said that Mr Tinubu was not qualified to vie for Nigeria’s presidency at the time he did.

They insist the country's highest court should quash the judgement of the Election Petition Court, which upheld Mr Tinubu's victory last month.

If it upholds the decision of the lower court, that would be following a pattern seen in previous elections in Africa’s most-populous nation, where a presidential election result has never been overturned.