From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) has informed lawyers to President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) that it cannot stop the court from adjudicating on the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Hearing in the petition has suffered several adjournments arising from attempts to secure the judgment of the Supreme Court in the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) against the nomination of Shettima, who was the senatorial candidate of the APC in Borno State, terming it as “double nomination.”
The adjournment, which was at the instant of the petitioners and respondents, was occasioned by the inability of parties to obtain the recent judgment of the Supreme Court which is believed to be crucial in the further hearing of the petition.
The court had on May 30, adjourned to June 2, to enable the petitioners to acquaint themselves with the said judgment so as to make an informed decision.
The APM is one of the three political parties challenging the declaration of President Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
The APM’s petition is anchored on the claims that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the February 25 presidential election on the grounds of the alleged double nomination of his vice-presidential candidate.
However, at the commencement of the hearing on May 30, Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), informed the court of a recent judgment by the Supreme Court, which according to him, appeared to have resolved the case of the APM.
“We are aware that the Supreme Court gave a decision on this same matter in the yet-to-be-reported judgment SC/CV/501/20223 and the parties involved were Peoples Democratic Party versus INEC and three others where the apex court resolved all the issues.
“We promise within the next two days that the Certified True Copies of the judgment of the Supreme Court will be made available.
“And we will also discuss with the petitioners whether, in light of the decision of the Supreme Court, there will still be the need to continue with this petition,” Olanipekun submitted.
Responding, APM’s counsel, Shehu Abubakar, however, requested a short time to enable the petitioners to avail themselves of the judgment so as to make an informed decision.
“Based on the submission of the learned silk, we shall be praying to adjourn the hearing of this petition to enable us to apply to the Supreme Court for the copy of the judgment referred to, to enable us to examine same and know the effect it has on this petition,” Abubakar said.
Consequently, the matter has witnessed several adjournments for the above reasons.
However, when the hearing resumed on Monday, the APM through another lawyer, GA Idiagoya, told the five-man panel of the court that the petitioner has accessed the Supreme Court judgement but believed it did not touch the grounds of their case.
“We are of the opinion that we can still proceed with our petition,” he said.
The lawyer, however, asked for a further adjournment because “certain documents we intend to tender are not in the file that was submitted to us by the previous counsel.”
Idiagoya sought another date to open and close his case with their sole witness, explaining that the documents he needs to prove his case is with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Counsel for the APC, Charles Edosawam SAN, had tried to comment on the said Supreme Court judgement but Justice Haruna Tsammani stopped him from talking about it but to only object to the petitioner’s call for adjournment.
But responding, he told the court, “I live that to your lordships.”
In his response, lead counsel to President Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun SAN, urged the PEPC to note that as a senior lawyer, it was his duty to explain to them that the Supreme Court (in the case between PDP and INEC, Tinubu) came to the conclusion that “no court has jurisdiction…”
Before Olanipekun could end his statement, Justice Haruna Tsammani interjected, saying “You can’t shut them (APM) out” from going ahead with their petition.
Olanipekun then agreed to an adjournment for Tuesday but the panel adjourned to Wednesday for ahearing.
The Supreme Court had in the judgment in reference, dismissed the appeal by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) seeking the disqualification of Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election over the alleged double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
The apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, held that the case of the PDP was incompetent and lacking in merit because it lacked the necessary legal authority to initiate the suit in the first place.
According to the apex court, Section 285(14)(c) of the Constitution does not permit a political party to interfere in the internal affairs of another political party.
It is the position of the Supreme Court that the PDP not being a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot challenge how the APC produced its candidates for an election.
The apex court also pointed out that the case of Nwosu relied upon by the appellant was not applicable because Nwosu was nominated by two different political parties, while in the instant appeal, Shettima was nominated by just one political party, the APC.
The five-member panel led by Justice John Okoro, accordingly upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court both in Abuja, which dismissed the appellant’s case for lack of locus standi.
Besides, the apex court held that the case of the appellant has become statute-barred having run beyond the 180 days permitted by law hence, it cannot delve into the merit of the case.
Specifically, the PDP had sought the disqualification of President Tinubu and Vice-President Shettima over alleged double nomination; an act which they say violates the electoral laws.
The appellant had anchored its appeal on the claims that the appellate court erred in law when it dismissed its appeal and affirmed the judgment of a trial court which held that the suit was incompetent and lacking in merit.
PDP is claiming that the APC breached the law when it nominated Shettima as the senatorial candidate for Borno Central and as the vice presidential candidate.
But, the apex court held that PDP cannot challenge the nomination of Shettima as vice presidential candidate because it lacked the necessary locus standi to do so, having not been an aspirant, a member of APC, not shown any harm it suffered as a result of the nomination of Shettima as VP candidate.
According to the apex court, “No matter how manifestly bad the process of an election, it is only a person with locus standi that can file a suit against it.”
APM had in its petition marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023, contended that the withdrawal of Mr Ibrahim Masari who was initially nominated as the vice-presidential candidate of the APC invalidated Tinubu’s candidacy in view of Section 131(c) and 142 of the 1999 Constitution.
It is the case of the petitioners that Tinubu’s candidature had elapsed at the time he nominated Shettima as a replacement for Masari, who was nominated as a place holder for the substantive vice-president nominee.
It submitted that at the time Tinubu announced Shettima as his running-mate, “he was no longer in a position, constitutionally to nominate a running-mate since he had ceased to be a presidential candidate of the 2nd respondent having regards to the provisions of section 142 of the 1999 Constitution”.
APM further submitted that Masari’s initial nomination activated the joint ticket principle enshrined in the constitution, stressing that his subsequent withdrawal invalidated the said joint ticket.
Amongst the reliefs it is seeking from the court include a declaration that Shettima was not qualified to contest as the vice-presidential candidate of the APC as of February 25 when the election was conducted by INEC having violated the provisions of Section 35 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“An order nullifying and voiding all the votes scored by Tinubu in the presidential election in view of his non-qualification as a candidate of the APC.”