The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, has struck out the case the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, filed to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.
In a verdict delivered on Wednesday, the court held that issues the APM raised in its petition contained pre-election matters that could only be determined by the Federal High Court.
Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, who read the ruling, upheld preliminary objections that all the Respondents raised to challenge the competence of the petition.
He noted that since the petition bothered on the qualification or otherwise of President Tinubu to contest the presidential election that was held on February 25, the APM, ought to have gone to court within 14 days after Tinubu was nominated by the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Consequently, Justice Haruna held that the APM lacked the locus standi to challenge Tinubu’s nomination since its petition was a pre-election matter.
Justice Haruna, in a supplementary opinion also maintained that the Supreme Court had earlier established that a political party does not have the right to challenge a nomination that was made by another political party.
Citing sections 131 and 237 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which made provisions for the qualification or disqualification of candidates in an election, the court noted that the main grouse of the APM was on the alleged invalid nomination of Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima.
“It is clear that the claim of qualification is non-qualification of the 3rd Respondent (Tinubu) centered on the alleged invalid nomination of the 4th Respondent (Shettima).
“It is a pre-election matter,” Justice Tsammani held.
According to the court, sections 65, 66, 106, 107, 131, 137, 185, and 187 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, settled the issue of qualification and nomination of a candidate for an election.
It held that where an election has already been conducted and the result declared, the qualification of a candidate could no longer be challenged based on sections 131 and 137 of the Constitution.
The court held that since the APM failed to challenge President Tinubu’s nomination within the constitutionally allowed period, its case, therefore, had become statute-barred, saying when the constitution has qualified a candidate for an election, no other law can disqualify such candidate except the constitution itself.
