The Presidential Election Petition Court on Friday in reserved judgment in the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement APM, seeking disqualification of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the February 25 presidential election on ground of unlawful nomination.
The Court adjourned its verdict indefinitely after parties in the matter adopted their final addresses seeking various requests.
APM is praying the Court to nullify the election of Tinubu on the ground that his Vice Presidetial candidate, Kashim Shetima unlawfully allowed himself to be nominated twice for the two different constituencies.
Shetima had been nominated by the All Progressives Congress APC as candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District and was later nominated by the same party as Vice Presidetial candidate following the withdrawal of one Kabiru Masari who was the initial Vice Presidetial candidate to Tinubu.
The grouse of the APM was that Kashim Shetima and the APC breached the Electoral Act by engaging in the alleged double nomination.
However, at the Friday’s proceedings where final addresses were adopted, APM through its counsel Andrew Malgwu SAN asked the court to invoke relevant law to nuliify the nomination of Tinubu and Shetima on the ground of unlawful, illegal and unjustifiable nomination.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC which is the 1st respondent in the petition prayed the Court to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.
APC represented by Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN asked the court to dismiss the petition on all grounds for being frivolous, irritating and unwarranted.
Fagbemi argued that the petition died on arrival in view of the Supreme Court judgment that other political parties cannot interfere in the internal affairs of another party especially on the issue of nomination.
In the same vein, Tinubu and Shetima represented by legal luminary, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN argued that the APM’S petition ought not to have been filed in the first instance and demanded it’s oughttight dismissal.
Olanipekun told the Court that the petition ought to have been withdrawn honourably immediately the Supreme Court made pronouncement that no party has the right to dabble into how another party nominated its candidates for elective offices.
Shortly after the proceedings, the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani adjourned judgment indefinitely.
Justice Tsammani told the retinue of lawyers in the court that they would be communicated once the judgment is ready.
