Supreme Court Strikes Out APM’s Appeal Against Tinubu’s Election
The Supreme Court on Monday struck out the appeal made by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in a bid to nullify the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president.
The APM had approached the Supreme Court to nullify the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which on September 6 upheld the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
The Tribunal had struck out the petition of the APM challenging the qualifications of President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
It declared that it lacked the power to hear the petition challenging the qualifications of Tinubu and Shettima and their election as president and vice president, respectively.
The party had issued a claim that the placeholder nominated by the president, Ibrahim Masari, was not replaced within 14 days.
The APM in its claim, believed that this was against the law as stipulated by Section 33 of the Electoral Act.
At the hearing on Monday, the lead counsel for the party, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, told the Supreme Court that their appeal was not premised on double nomination.
Ume further insisted that Shettima was illegally nominated, after which the court asked if the APM had anything to gain from the matter.
“What will you gain if you win this appeal? There are other appeals that are asking for something substantial,” the panel led by John Okoro said.
“There is nothing to gain but to give us work to do. You are not asking us to put your candidate there as president.”
The APM lawyer, however, applied to withdraw his appeal. The All Progressives Congress (APC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Massari and Tinubu’s counsels did not object.
“Having been withdrawn, the appeal is hereby struck out,” Okoro said.
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