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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has dismissed the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu at the February 25 presidential election.
The APM had sought the disqualification of the Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) after alleging that the nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima was invalid, having been the candidate of APC for Borno Central Sentorial District when Tinubu nominated him as a running mate.
Ruling on the petition on Wednesday, the chairman of the five-member panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, who read the judgement, said issue of qualification and disqualification is a pre-election matter.
“The issue of qualification or disqualification is a constitutional one.
The issue of disqualification or qualification is a pre-election matter.
“It must be determined before the conduct of the election. This court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter and even if it does it is status-barred because it is a pre-election matter,” he said.
Justice Tsammani added that issue of double nomination does not arise as Shettima withdrew from the Borno Central Senatorial election on July 6, before his nomination as vice president.
He subsequently struck out the APM petition for lack of merit.
Details later……