THE double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima has been described as unintentional by the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja.
Consequently, the court ruled that Vice President, Shettima cannot be disqualified.
The judgment was read out by Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, on Wednesday morning.
This is in reaction to the case the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) filed to nullify President Bola Tinubu’s election.
“Only the Federal High Court can handle pre-eection matters” and not the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal,” Tsammani read out.
He therefore held that the APM did not have the locus standi to challenge Tinubu’s nomination.
Justice Tsammani held that no political party could challenge the nomination but an aspirant in the political party primaries concerned, in line with Section 84(3) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
“It is clear that the claim of qualification it non qualification of the the 3rd Respondent (Tinubu) centered on alleged invalid nomination of the 4th Respondent (Shettima).
“It is a pre-election matter,” Justice Tsammani held.
The tribunal also settled the issue of qualification and nomination of a candidate for an election based on Sections 65, 66, 106, 107, 131, 137, 185 and 187 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The tribunal also held that sections 131 and 137 of the Constitution explains that, where an election has already been conducted and result declared, the qualification of a candidate could no longer be disputed.
It also held that APM’s failure to challenge President Tinubu’s nomination within the constitutionally allowed period, its case had therefore become statute barred.
The APM’s petition, marked: CA/PEPC/04/2023, argued that the withdrawal of Mr. Masari who was initially nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC, invalidated Tinubu’s candidacy in view of Section 131(c) and 142 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
