Presidential Elections: Tribunal Strikes Out Apm’s Petition Against Shettima’s Candidacy

The Presidential Election Tribunal in Abuja has struck out this petition challenging the double nomination of Vice-President Kashim Shettima.

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) had filed a petition, but Justice Haruna Tsammani, who served as the chairman of the panel, delivered the ruling. The tribunal's decision was based on the grounds that the issue of double nomination of a candidate is a pre-election matter. The judgement was televised, and they held that the APM did not have the legal standing (locus standi) to challenge the nomination of candidates from another political party. IPeter Obi and the Labour Party had also challenged the same double nomination of Kashim Shettima. Prior to this ruling, there was anticipation surrounding the final judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) on petitions against the electoral victory of someone named Tinubu, scheduled for that Wednesday morning. A large crowd of litigants, lawyers, and interested parties had gathered at the court, Tribune reports Prominent figures present in the courtroom included Vice President Kashim Shettima, Chief of Staff to the President Femi Gbajabiamila, All Progressive Congress (APC) Chairman Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and Governors Hope Uzodinma and Yahaya Bello of Imo and Kogi States, respectively, among others from the ruling party. From the opposition side, those present included the acting national chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun, and the LP national chairman, Julius Abure. Recall that Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President and candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), along with Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), among others, had filed petitions challenging the victory of Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election. Tinubu had contested the election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), with Kashim Shettima as his running mate. The PEPT conducted its proceedings at the Court of Appeal headquarters in Abuja, and there were stringent security measures in place to vet individuals, including journalists, who had come to witness the judgment.