The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has issued its decision on the petition brought by the Allied People’s Movement (APM) seeking to disqualify President Bola Tinubu as the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s legitimately nominated candidate in the February 25th presidential election.
The court ruled that the petition’s issues should be decided by the Federal High Court because they are pre-election problems. The panel’s chairperson, Justice Haruna Tsammani, upheld the respondents’ objections with regard to the petition’s admissibility.
He noted that the APM should have taken legal action within 14 days of Tinubu’s nomination by the APC since it concerned his qualification for the presidential election held on February 25.
Furthermore, Justice Tsammani cited previous Supreme Court decisions, emphasizing that a political party cannot challenge the nomination of another party.
Sections 131 and 237 of the 1999 Constitution govern candidate qualifications or disqualifications in elections. The APM’s primary concern was the alleged invalid nomination of Tinubu’s running mate, Kashim Shettima, making it a pre-election matter.
