Presidential Poll: Supreme Court declares President-elect, Tinubu, eligible

The eligibility of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to contest the presidential election that was held on February 25, 2023, was today affirmed by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, the Supreme Court of Nigeria declared that an appeal the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), filed to challenge the legality of Tinubu’s candidacy, lacked merit.

It would be recalled that the opposition PDP had in the appeal marked: SC/CV/501/2023, sought Tinubu’s disqualification on the premise that the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, allowed himself to be nominated for more than one constituency, ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The main opposition party equally informed the court that Shettima was nominated twice, both for the Borno Central Senatorial seat and for the Vice Presidential position.

PDP argued that Shettima’s dual nomination was in gross breach of the provisions of Sections 29(1), 33, 35 and 84(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act, 2022, as amended.

Aside from praying the court to nullify Tinubu and Shettima’s candidacy, the Appellant equally applied for an order to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to expunge their names from the list of nominated or sponsored candidates that were eligible to contest the presidential poll.

But in its lead judgment that was delivered by Justice Adamu Jauro, the Supreme Court held that PDP lacked the locus standi (legal right) to interfere in affairs of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which nominated both Tinubu and Shettima for the presidential election.

The apex court upheld the concurrent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court in Abuja, which earlier dismissed PDP’s case.

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