WED, SEPT 06 2023-theGBJournal |The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) Wednesday, in Abuja, dismissed the petition brought by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) seeking the disqualification of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as elected President and Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
APM brought their suit on the premise that the nomination of Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate was a breach of the provisions of sections 29(1), 33, 35, and 84(1)(2) of Electoral Act.
But the Tribunal, in a judgement delivered by the lead Justice Haruna Tsammani, Chairman of the Tribunal, ruled that APM’s petition lacked merit and described it as ”abuse of the court process.”
The PEPT also firmly claimed they lacked the jurisdiction to consider the matter as it was a pre-election matter ”which the petitioner ought to have ventilated at the Federal High Court.
It added that the process of qualification of candidate for an election is stipulated in the constitution, particularly in section 131(1) and consequently ruled APM’s petition as incompetent.
All other relief sought by the petitioner were dismissed.
The judgement is the first in the series set to be delivered today by the Tribunal.
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