ABUJA, Nigeria — The Supreme Court of Nigeria has thrown out a lawsuit from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, which challenged the alleged double nomination of Kashim Shettima.
The Apex court agreed with lower courts that the PDP lacked the standing, or locus standi, to institute the case.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, May 26, 2023, by Justice Adamu Jauro, the PDP was castigated as a “meddlesome interloper” and a “busy body,” stepping into what the court deemed to be an internal affair of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The lawsuit was further disparaged as being devoid of merit, leading to its dismissal.
As part of the judgment, the court ruled that PDP must pay a penalty of two million naira.
“The attitude of the appellant (PDP) amounts to misleading the court,” the Justices declared in their collective assessment. They described the PDP’s attempt to challenge Shettima’s nomination as “sad.”
This Supreme Court ruling represents a significant setback for the PDP and an apparent validation of Shettima’s standing within the APC.
The ruling, by extension, underscores the court’s disapproval of external entities’ perceived intrusions into internal party affairs.
