TINUBU, APC LOSE BATTLE TO SHUT DOWN APM’S PETITION CHALLENGING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The Presidential Election Petition Court dismissed an attempt to discard the petition filed by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM challenging the qualification of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC. This followed a recent verdict by the Supreme Court, which ruled in a similar matter filed before the Presidential Election Petition Court. Counsel for Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, informed the court on May 30 of the judgement, which, according to him, appears to have resolved the same issue the APM has brought before the court. He had referenced the Supreme Court’s decision of Friday, May 26, that dismissed the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP which prayed the court to nullify the ticket that produced the president and his vice, Kassim Shettima, on grounds of double nomination. At the resumed hearing on the petition today, counsel for the APM informed the court that he still wants to go ahead with the case despite the apex court’s judgement. Following this, the chairman of the five-man panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, held that the party cannot be shut out in the face of a fair hearing. Similar objections raised by the APC, through its counsel against the petition on the same ground were turned down by PEPC for the same reason. In a brief ruling, Justice Tsammani fixed Wednesday, June 21, for the hearing of the petition. The APM, through its legal team, said it would open and close the case on the same day. The party will also call one private witness to testify in aid of the petition against President Tinubu of the APC.  

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