Court adjourns its decision over APM’s petition asking for Tinubu’s disqualification indefinitely

The Allied Peoples Movement, APM, filed a case with the Presidential Election case Court on Friday, asking for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be disqualified from the election for president on February 25 due to an illegitimate nomination. The court deferred judgement on the plea.

After the parties adopted their final addresses requesting numerous demands, the Court deferred its decision for an indeterminate period of time.

Due to Kashim Shettima, his vice presidential candidate, being nominated twice for two separate constituencies, APM is asking the Court to invalidate Tinubu’s election.

Shettima had been nominated by the All Progressives Congress, APC, as a candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District and was later nominated by the same party as Vice Presidential candidate following the withdrawal of one Kabiru Masari, who was the initial Vice Presidential candidate to Tinubu.

The grouse of the APM was that 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 Andrew Malgwu SAN, asked the court to invoke relevant law to nullify the nomination of Tinubu and Shettima on the ground of unlawful, illegal and unjustifiable nomination.

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which is the 1st respondent in the petition, prayed the Court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.

The APC, represented by Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN, asked 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 Shettima, represented by legal luminary, 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Olanipekun told the Court that the petition ought to have been withdrawn honourably immediately after the Supreme Court made a pronouncement that no party has the right to dabble into how another party nominated its candidates for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.

Shortly after the proceedings, the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, adjourned judgment indefinitely.

Justice Tsammani told the retinue of lawyers in the court that they would be communicated once the judgment was ready.