Lawyers at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal
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The disqualification matter brought against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, was on Wednesday thrown out by the Presidential Election Petition Court.
In a ruling by the learned five-man panel of Justices led by Haruna Tsammani, he submitted that the court is sitting as the Court of Appeal and not as a tribunal and further upheld INEC’s complaint against APM for introducing a new fact while the hearing of the election petition was ongoing.
APM in its petition to the Tribunal had sought the disqualification Senator Kashim Shettima as Vice Presidential running mate to Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
Citing Section 35 of the Electoral Act, 2022 and other constitutional provisions, APM explained that Shettima was not qualified to contest and argued that votes cast in favour of APC in the presidential election should be cancelled.
The Tribunal in the judgement viewed the submission as flaws highlighting that applications filed by the respondents requesting that some paragraphs of APM’s petition be struck out.
Tsammani highlights the respondents’ argument that the APM cannot introduce a new issue or fact after the petition was filed.
Tsammani says it is clear that the claim of qualification or non-qualification is a pre-election matter which cannot be entertained by the Tribunal for lack of jurisdiction, stating that the APM ought to have directed the case to a Federal High Court.
Tsammani also highlights the respondents’ objection that the issue raised by APM ought to have been raised at the Federal High Court within 180 days from 27 July 2022 when Mr Shettima was the APC’s vice-presidential candidate. The window for litigation on such issue, the respondents say, lapsed in January 2023.
The issue of qualification of a candidate of a political party is not an all-comers’ affair, Tsammani said.
