BREAKING: Tribunal strikes out APM’s petition challenging Tinubu’s election

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the petition of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) challenging the election of President Bola Tinubu.

The head of the five-member bench, Haruna Tsammani who read the judgement, said the petition was a “pre-election matter which should have been brought before the high court.

He ruled that Vice-President Kashim Shettima’s dual nomination as a senatorial and vice-presidential candidate was not done on purpose and cannot be used to invalidate President Bola Tinubu’s victory.

“Nothing in the constitution bars a candidate from nominating a running mate if the original running mate withdraws. You don’t need primaries to pick a running mate. The petition of APM is therefore without any merit,” Justice Haruna Tsammani said.

Justice Tsammani announced the ruling as part of the continuing decision about the petitions submitted by opposition parties challenging Mr. Tinbubu’s election as president in February.

The Allied People’s Movement (APM) filed the complaint of double nomination, contending that Mr. Shettima broke election law by declaring himself Mr. Tinubu’s running partner on July 14 while also competing for senator in his native Borno State.

But the tribunal further ruled that the issue of double nomination had already been resolved by the Supreme Court in the case brought before it by the PDP.

According to the judge, the APM does not have the right to relitigate the issue since it was not a party to the case at the tribunal.

Tsammani said, “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 statute-barred because it is a pre-election matter.”

The tribunal has ruled that the suit challenging Shettima’s alleged double nomination is meant to be a pre-election matter and should have been heard at the High Court before the election.