The Supreme Court, on Monday, fixed May 26 to deliver its judgement on an appeal that challenges the eligibility of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to contest the presidential election that was held on February 25.
The appeal, marked: SC/CV/501/2023, which was brought before the court by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, seeks to disqualify Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima.
PDP contended that the manner in which the APC and Tinubu nominated Shettima as a vice presidential candidate for the election, was in gross breach of the provisions of Sections 29(1), 33, 35, and 84(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act, 2022, as amended.
It told the court that there was evidence to establish that Shettima was nominated twice, both for the Vice Presidential position and for the Borno Central Senatorial seat, an action the PDP maintained was in contravention of the law.
Aside from asking the court to nullify Tinubu and Shettima’s candidacy, the appellant equally applied for an order to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to expunge their names from the list of nominated or sponsored candidates that were eligible to contest the presidential poll.
Meanwhile, a five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, okayed the matter for judgement, after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.
While the PDP, through its lawyer, Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, urged the court to uphold its case by setting aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal on the matter, counsel for Tinubu and the APC, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, SAN, sought the dismissal of the suit on the premise that it was bereft of any merit.
Besides, the respondents contended that the matter had become status quo in view of the expiration of the period allowed for the hearing and determination of such a pre-election case.
On its part, INEC, through its lawyer, Mr. Adebiyi Adetosoye, said it was in support of Tinubu and the APC’s demand for the appeal to be dismissed with substantial costs.
More so, all the respondents queried the locus standi (legal right) of the PDP to institute the action as well as the jurisdiction of the court to dabble into the issue of the nomination of a candidate for an election, which they argued bordered on the domestic affair of a political party.
After listening to all the parties, the apex court adjourned the case for judgement.
It will be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja, in a verdict it delivered on January 13, dismissed the case on the ground that the PDP lacked the right to file the suit to challenge Tinubu’s candidacy.
Trial Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the suit was caught by the principle of estoppel, stressing that the issue surrounding Shettima’s nomination was earlier decided by another court of competent jurisdiction.
He, therefore, held that the suit was an abuse of court process and, as such, deserved to be dismissed.
Besides, Justice Ekwo held that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain a suit that was filed by a plaintiff without the requisite locus standi.
While emphasising that the issue of the nomination of candidates was within the realm of a political party’s internal affairs, Justice Ekwo, held that no reasonable cause of action was established by the plaintiff.
“It is express in the provision of Section 29 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022, that the right of action on the matter for which the applicant/respondent (PDP) has filed this action is given to any aspirant who participated in the primaries of his political party,” the judge held.
He noted that PDP was neither an aspirant nor a participant in the presidential primary election of the APC.
“Therefore, there is no iota of law which support this action. It is on this ground that I find that this case is an abuse of process and I so hold,” the Judge added while dismissing the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1734/2022.
The judgement of the trial court was later affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which also dismissed the case.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, said it found no reason to dislodge the verdict of the trial court.
In its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice James Abunduga, the appellate court described the PDP as a meddlesome interloper for dabbling into the affairs of the APC.
