The Presidential Election Petitions Court has ruled that it lacks the jurisdiction to hear the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) challenging the eligibility of President Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, therefore dismissed suit seeking disqualification of Tinubu and Shettima.
In the lead judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Haruna Tsammani stated that the issues presented before the tribunal pertain to pre-election matters that should have been addressed in a high court, adding that the 180-day timeframe for resolving the matter had elapsed.
“In Alhassan and others versus Ishaku and others, it was held that an election tribunal has no jurisdiction on the primary of a political party,” he said.
He said the matters of qualification and disqualification are guided by the provisions of sections 131 and 137(1)(a)(j) of the Nigerian Constitution.
He held that issue complained of was an internal affair of a political party.
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APM had argued that Tinubu and Shettima were not validly nominated to contest the February 25 election. They contended that the combined reading of sections 131(c) and 142(2) of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999, and Section 133 of the Electoral Act rendered their nominations invalid.
APM claimed that the 21-day period between Kabiru Masari’s withdrawal as an APC placeholder on June 24, 2022, and the date Shettima’s name was submitted to INEC on July 14, 2022, violated Section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2022, which allows only 14 days for candidate replacement.
