THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to disqualify the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu and his running mate Kashim Shettima, from the just concluded February 25 election.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member panel led by Justice James Abundaga on Friday, March 24, the court held that the PDP failed to demonstrate locus standi to institute the case.
The PDP had filed an appeal to reverse the Federal High Court’s January 13 judgment, which dismissed its suit on the grounds that it lacked locus standi.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, Tinubu, and Shettima were respondents in the appeal, while the PDP was the appellant.
The PDP’s suit, filed on July 28, 2022, challenged the validity of the Tinubu/Shettima ticket for the 2023 presidential election. The party argued that Shettima’s nomination as the running mate violated the provisions of Sections 29(1), 33, 35, and 84(1)(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended), claiming that Shettima had double nominations.
It argued that Shettima’s nomination as a vice-presidential candidate and the candidate for the Borno Central Senatorial seat contravened the law.
The PDP had sought an order to disqualify the APC, Tinubu, and Shettima from contesting the presidential election scheduled for February 25 and an order nullifying their candidacy.
The party also asked the court to compel INEC to remove their names from its list of nominated or sponsored candidates eligible to contest the election.
However, the defendants urged the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that the plaintiff lacked locus standi to institute the case, which challenged APC’s decision and its nomination of candidates for the election, which were within the confines of the party’s internal affairs and thus, non-justiciable.
Justice Abundaga, delivering the lead judgment, agreed with the respondents’ lawyers’ submissions that the PDP was a busybody meddling in the APC’s internal affairs.
He held that the trial court was right to have held that the PDP failed to establish its locus standi.
“The appellant, having failed to disclose its locus standi, this appeal fails, and it is hereby dismissed,” he said, affirming the judgment of the Federal High Court.
The judge also awarded N5 million cost against the appellant’s lawyer, J. O. Olotu.
