The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has commenced the judgment in the petition brought towards it by candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi and that of the LP against INEC, President Bola Tinubu and the APC.
Justice Abba Mohamed is reading the judgement of the court in Peter Obi’s petition on behalf of the five justices of the court of appeal.
Meanwhile, the petition of Allied Peoples Movement (APM) which was first read has been dismissed for lacking merit.
APM’s case rests solely on alleged invalid nomination of Bola Tinubu’s running mate, Shettima.
Justice Tsanami in his ruling ruled that the nomination of candidate by a political party is a pre-election matter on which an election petition tribunal has no jurisdiction.
The Justice said the petitioner ought to have ventilated his claim at a federal high court, even then it’s statute barred.
He said Section 142 of constitution did not enlarge the scope of disqualification of a candidate.
“Nothing in the constitution which bars a candidate from nominating a running mate, if the original running mate withdraws. You don’t need primaries to pick a running mate. Petition of APM is therefore without any merit,” Justice Tsamani ruled.