The Presidential Election Petition Court on Friday reserved judgment in the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) seeking the disqualification of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the February 25 presidential election on ground of unlawful nomination. The Court adjourned its verdict after parties in the matter adopted their final addresses seeking to either allow
The Presidential Election Petition Court on Friday reserved judgment in the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) seeking the disqualification of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the February 25 presidential election on ground of unlawful nomination.
The Court adjourned its verdict after parties in the matter adopted their final addresses seeking to either allow or dismiss the petition.
APM is praying the Court to nullify the election of President Tinubu on the ground that his Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima unlawfully allowed himself to be nominated twice for both Senatorial and Presidential election.
Senator Shettima had been nominated by the All Progressives Congress ( APC) as candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District and was later nominated by the same party as Vice Presidential candidate following the withdrawal of Alhaji Kabiru Masari who was the initial Vice Presidential candidate nominee to President Tinubu.
The grouse of the APM was that Senator Kashim Shettima and the APC breached the Electoral Act by engaging in the alleged double nomination.
However, at Friday’s proceedings where final addresses were adopted, APM through its counsel Mr. Andrew Mwajim Malgwi Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) asked the court to invoke relevant law to nullify the nomination of President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima on the ground of unlawful, illegal and unjustifiable nomination.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC which is the first respondent in the petition prayed the Court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit. INEC’s counsel, Sir Stephen Adehi SAN said the first respondent filed it’s final address on 30th June,2023 and also filed a reply on point of law on 13th July 2023.
The first respondent adopted the arguments in the address and urged the court to dismiss the petition.
APC, represented by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN asked the court to dismiss the petition on all grounds for being frivolous, irritating and unwarranted. Prince 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.
Also, the third and fourth respondents, President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima represented by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN argued that the APM’s petition ought not to have been filed in the first instance and demanded it’s outright dismissal.
Chief Olanipekun told the Court that the petition ought to have been withdrawn honourably immediately the Supreme Court made a pronouncement that no party has the right to dabble into how another party nominated its candidates for elective offices.
The Presiding Judge of the Court, Justice Haruna Tsammani thereafter reserved judgment in the petition.
Justice Tsammani told counsels that they would be communicated once the judgment was ready.
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