The All Peoples Movement (APM) has asked the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to nullify the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
The party made this call with respect to the process Tinubu employed in nominating his vice president, Kashim Shettima.
APM asked the court to declare the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the election, as the president-elect.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the 1st of March had declared Tinubu was the president-elect.
Apart from APM, PDP and the Labour Party have filed separate petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to challenge the poll.
APM whose presidential candidate, in the petition, argued that Tinubu was not properly sponsored by the APC by fielding Shettima as vice presidential candidate for the election.
Tinubu while submitting his presidential nomination form to INEC in June 2022, chose Ibrahim Masari, a politician from President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state Katsina, as a “placeholder” for the substantive vice presidential candidate who would later be Shettima.
The petitioner accused Shettima of “double nominations” having been nominated by the APC as its senatorial candidate for Borno Central District and later vice-presidential flagbearer for the 25 February polls.
Giving details of Shettima’s emergence as APC’s vice presidential pick, APM argued that as of 15 July 2022, Shettima was still a “validly nominated senatorial candidate” of the APC for Borno Central…”
Referencing an acknowledgement slip dated 14 July 2022, from INEC’s online portal, the petitioner said 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 nominations make his nomination for either of the elective offices/constituencies void particularly the latter.”
According to the petitioner, the validity of Tinubu’s nomination as APC’s presidential candidate was “hinged” on his running mate.
APM contended that Tinubu nominated Masari and forwarded the latter’s name to INEC as a vice presidential candidate.
In a copious reference to Sections 131 (C) and 142 of the constitution, the petitioner said Mr Masari “withdrew his purported nomination thereby invalidating the nomination” of Mr Tinubu as APC’s presidential candidate.
Stressing the three-week gap between the period of Mr Masari’s notice of withdrawal and his actual pull-out from the contest, 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.
In the petition filed on 20 March, APM’s lawyer, OM Atoyebi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (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 said if the court voids Mr Tinubu’s 8.8 votes, it should further set aside his declaration as president-elect by INEC.
According to the APM, if the court accedes to the foregoing requests, it would have effectively excluded Tinubu from the 25 February poll, adding that it should proceed to declare Atiku as the president-elect elect, having polled the second highest votes.
