ABUJA, Nigeria – The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal in Abuja adjourned a contentious petition from the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, against President-elect Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
The proceedings are set to continue on Thursday, May 11, 2023.
According to presiding Justice Haruna Tsammani, this pause will allow parties involved to scrutinize applications and pre-hearing issues to decide upon any objections. “All applications will be determined during the next pre-hearing session,” Tsammani clarified.
The case adds another layer to Nigeria’s fraught political landscape. In its petition marked CA/PEPC/04/2023, the APM argues that the withdrawal of Vice-Presidential candidate Mr. Ibrahim Masari from the APC ticket invalidated Tinubu’s candidacy, citing Section 131(c) and 142 of the 1999 Constitution.
The APM posits a three-week gap between Masari’s expressed intention to withdraw, the actual withdrawal, and Senator Kashim Shettima’s replacement nomination, claiming Tinubu’s candidacy had expired by the time Shettima was nominated.
As per the APM’s interpretation, “he [Tinubu] was no longer in a position, constitutionally, to nominate a running mate since he had ceased to be a presidential candidate of the 2nd Respondent having regards to the provisions of section 142 of the 1999 Constitution”.
The APM further contends that Masari’s initial nomination activated a joint ticket principle in the Constitution, and that his subsequent withdrawal invalidated this joint ticket. The party seeks a court declaration that Shettima was ineligible to contest as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC on February 25 when the election was conducted by INEC, citing Section 35 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In addition, the APM seeks an order nullifying all votes won by Tinubu in the presidential election and setting aside the Certificate of Return issued to him by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
In response, Tinubu’s legal team, led by Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, urged the dismissal of the petition, stating it lacks merit and substance. Tinubu argued that the petitioner failed to establish a reasonable cause of action to warrant the nullification of his election victory.
On May 8, the APC also challenged the competence of the petition, calling for its dismissal for lacking in merit. Both Tinubu and Shettima, cited as the 3rd and 4th Respondents respectively, asked the court to either strike out or dismiss the petition.
After the parties adopted their responses, the five-member panel of the court, led by Justice Tsammani, adjourned further pre-hearing session on the petition till Thursday. The panel directed the parties to identify applications and documents they would either concede to or object to during the full hearing of the matter.
As the tribunal awaits Thursday’s continuation, the focus shifted to the petition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. This follows the dismissal of the petition filed by Action Alliance against Tinubu’s victory after the party withdrew it on Monday, May 8, 2023.
