APM asks tribunal to nullify Tinubu’s victory for flawed nomination of Shettima

By Ihesiulo Grace 3 April 2023 108 No comment

BY ANDREW OROLUA

One of the political parties challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu at Presidential Election Petition Court, the All Peoples Movement ,APM, has anchored its case on the “flawed process” of nominating the vice president- elect, Kashim Shettima.

APM and its presidential candidate Chichi Ojei, who beat the deadline for filing of petitions at PEPC in Abuja, along with the Labour party and Presidential candidate Peter Obi and Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar said they are confident their petitions are grounded.

Fifteen other political parties who contested the February 25 Presidential Election seem to have given up and had not filed any petition against the election.

Though, APM and his candidate Chichi Ojei, scored 25,961 votes while Tinubu and All Progressive Congress APC, polled 8.8 million votes at the election, they are urging the Court to hold that Mr Tinubu was not properly sponsored by the APC by fielding Mr Shettima as vice presidential candidate for the election.

Recall that while submitting his presidential nomination form to INEC in June 2022, Tinubu had chosen Ibrahim Masari, the governor of Katsina State from President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state Katsina, as a “placeholder” awaiting for the substantive vice presidential candidate.

Though political observers have claimed that the choice of Mr Masari as a placeholder was a strategy to beat INEC’s deadline of 17 June 2022, for presidential candidates to submit names of their vice presidential picks, APM is complaining that the act was a breach of the statute even though he voluntarily withdrew.

Mr Masari withdrawal as placeholder paved the way for Mr Tinubu to name Mr Shettima as his running mate on 10 July 2022. But this event has formed one of the major grounds for APM’s legal complaint over the outcome of the presidential election.

APM in the petitioner is accusing Mr Shettima of “double nominations” having been nominated by the APC as its senatorial candidate for Borno Central District and later vice-presidential candidate for the 25 February polls.

Adducing reasons to buttress this point APM vehemently argued that as at 15 July 2022, when Mr Shettima emerged as Tinubu’s Vice Presidential candidate he was still a “validly nominated senatorial candidate” of the APC for Borno Central…”

The petitioners further buttressed that with an acknowledgement slip dated 14 July 2022, from INEC’s online portal, it was clear that the document showed Mr Shettima replaced Mr Masari as APC’s vice presidential candidate

“The acts of the 4th respondent (Mr Shettima) double or multiple nomination make his nomination for either of the elective offices/constituencies void particularly the latter.”

According to the petitioner, the validity of Mr Tinubu’s nomination as APC’s presidential candidate was “hinged” on his running mate.

Citing Sections 131 (C) and 142 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended ), the APM urged the Court to hold that Mr Masari withdrawal from the nomination invalidates the nomination” of Mr Tinubu as APC’s presidential candidate.

They pointed out that the three-week gap between the period of Mr Masari’s notice of withdrawal and his actual pull-out from the contest, the president-elect’s “candidature had lapsed”and he was no longer in a position constitutionally to nominate a running mate since he had ceased to be a presidential candidate of the APC.

APM argued that by the time Mr Tinubu picked Mr Shettima as his running mate, the president-elect’s “candidature had lapsed” and he was no longer in a position constitutionally to nominate a running mate since he had ceased to be a presidential candidate of the APC.

It further argued that the APC was “bereft of any power…to substitute…” Mr Masari “whose name had already been submitted (as vice presidential candidate) to” the electoral umpire.

APM legal team lead by OM Atoyebi, SAN, urged the Presidential Election Petition Court to make an order nullifying “all the votes scored” by Mr Tinubu in the presidential election in view of his non-qualification as a candidate of” the APC.

The petitioner also prayed the Court for an order setting aside INEC declaration of Tinubu as president-elect.

If the order is granted it should proceed to declare Atiku as the president-elect elect, having polled the second highest votes.