JUST IN: Presidential Election Petition Court Reserves Judgment In APM’s Case Against Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja on Friday, reserved judgment on the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), seeking the disqualification of President Bola Tinubu from the February 25, presidential election on the ground of unlawful nomination…Continue Reading 

Chairman of the 5-man panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, announced after lawyers in the matter had adopted their final addresses, that the judgment date would be communicated to all parties.

By its petition, the APM is seeking disqualification of Tinubu on the ground that his Vice presidential candidate, Kashim Shetima unlawfully allowed himself to be nominated twice for the two different positions.

Recall that Shetima, ab initio was nominated by the All Progressives Congress as a candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District and was later nominated by the same party as Vice Presidetial candidate following the withdrawal of one Kabiru Masari, a placeholder, who was the initial Vice Presidetial candidate to Tinubu.

The APM predicated its petition on the ground that Shetima and the APC violated the Electoral Act by engaging in alleged double nomination.

However, during the adoption of its final written address, the APM through its counsel Andrew Malgwu SAN asked the court to invoke a relevant section of the law to invalidate the nomination of Tinubu and Shetima for being unlawful, illegal, and unjustifiable nomination.

On its part, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, the 1st respondent in the petition pleaded with the Court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.

APC represented by Lateef Fagbemi SAN prayed the court to dismiss the petition on all grounds for being frivolous, irritating, and unwarranted.

Fagbemi argued that the petition died on arrival in view of the Supreme Court judgment that other political parties cannot interfere in the internal affairs of another party, especially on the issue of nomination.

In the same vein, Tinubu and Shetima represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN argued that the APM’s petition ought not to have been filed in the first instance and demanded its outright dismissal.

Olanipekun told the Court that the petition ought to have been withdrawn honorably immediately after the Supreme Court made a pronouncement that no party has the right to dabble into how another party nominated its candidates for elective offices. END…Continue Reading