Tinubu/Shettima’s Double Nomination: Court Reserves Judgment on APM’s Petition

The Presidential Election Petition Court has reserved its judgment on the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), seeking to disqualify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Vice President Kashim Shettima from the February 25 presidential election.

The APM alleges that Shettima unlawfully allowed himself to be nominated twice for two different constituencies by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court adjourned its verdict indefinitely on Friday, after the parties adopted their final addresses and made various requests.

The APM is praying the court to nullify the election of Tinubu and Shettima on the ground that they breached the Electoral Act by engaging in the alleged double nomination.

According to the APM, Shettima was initially nominated by the APC as a candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District and 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.

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 respondents in the petition, namely the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC, Tinubu and Shettima, have urged the court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit. They argued that the petition was frivolous, irritating and unwarranted.

The respondents also relied on a recent Supreme Court judgment that other political parties cannot interfere in the internal affairs of another party, especially on the issue of nomination. They contended that the APM had no locus standi to challenge how the APC nominated its candidates for elective offices.

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.

The Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, announced that the judgment would be delivered at a later date, which would be communicated to the parties. He adjourned the case indefinitely.

The case has attracted public attention as it could have a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential election, which was won by Tinubu with a wide margin. The APM is one of the several parties that have challenged Tinubu’s victory at the court.

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