The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has fixed July 14 for adoption of written arguments in the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) which closed its case against the election of President Bola Tinubu.
The petitioner, yesterday, closed its case after the testimony of ots sole witness before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
In her evidence before the court, the witness, Aisha Abubakar who identified herself as a politician and the Assistant Welfare Director of the party, tendered seven batches of documentary evidence before the court to prove the case of the petitioners.
It is the contention of the party that Tinubu was not qualified to participate in the 2023 presidential election.
In its petition marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023, APM specifically contended that the withdrawal of Mr. 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, as amended.
The party argued that there was a gap of about three weeks between the period that Masari, who was listed as the 5th Respondent in the petition, expressed intention to withdraw, the actual withdrawal of his purported nomination, and the time Tinubu purportedly replaced him with Senator Kashim Shettima.
It further argued that Tinubu’s candidature had elapsed as at the time he nominated Shettima as Masari’s replacement.
According to the petitioner, as at the time Tinubu announced Shettima as the Vice Presidential candidate, “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”.
In addition, APM, argued that Masari’s initial nomination activated the joint ticket principle enshrined in the Constitution, stressing that his subsequent withdrawal invalidated the said joint ticket.
It, therefore, prayed the court to declare that Shettima was not qualified to contest as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC as at February 25 when the election was conducted by INEC having violated the provisions the 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”.
Meanwhile, proceedings were suspended in the petition after the attention of the court was drawn to the judgment of the Supreme Court, which counsel to President Tinubu, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, said settled the issue the APM raised in its petition.
Olanipekun maintained that an appeal the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed against his client, which was dismissed by the Supreme Court, bordered on the legality or otherwise of his client’s nomination to contest the election by the APC.
