Presidential-elect Bola Tinubu
EKO HOT BLOG reports that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the President-elect, has called for the dismissal of a petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) aimed at nullifying his election victory. Tinubu, represented by a team of lawyers led by Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, argued that the petition lacked merit and substance.
The APM’s petition, marked CA/PEPC/04/2023, claimed that Tinubu’s candidacy was invalidated due to the withdrawal of Mr. Ibrahim Masari, who was initially nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party argued that the three-week gap between Masari’s intention to withdraw, the actual withdrawal, and Tinubu’s replacement of him with Senator Kashim Shettima, rendered Tinubu’s candidature expired at the time of the replacement.
The APM contended that Masari’s initial nomination activated the joint ticket principle enshrined in the Constitution, and his subsequent withdrawal invalidated the joint ticket.
Therefore, the APM requested the court to declare that Shettima was not qualified to contest as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC during the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on February 25, citing violations of the provisions of Section 35 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
They also sought an order nullifying all votes received by Tinubu in the presidential election and setting aside the Certificate of Return issued to him by INEC.
The APC, Tinubu, and Shettima filed preliminary objections challenging the competence of the petition, urging the court to dismiss it entirely for lacking merit. Tinubu argued that the petitioner failed to establish a reasonable cause of action warranting the nullification of his election victory.
Bola Tinubu
During the proceedings, the parties adopted their filed answers to the pre-hearing information sheet. The court, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned the pre-hearing session until Thursday.
The panel directed the parties to identify applications and documents they would either concede to or object to during the full-blown hearing, as well as outline the issues to be determined in the petition.
The case will continue to unfold, and further developments will shed light on the outcome of the petition challenging Tinubu’s election victory.
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