September 19, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking to disqualify the presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from participating in the 2023 presidential election.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022, accusing both Obi and Tinubu of acting in breach of the new Electoral Act.
The party had told the court that contrary to provisions of the Electoral Act, both Obi and Tinubu failed to nominate their running mates in due time, choosing rather to temporarily hand over their Vice Presidential tickets to placeholders.
PDP told the court that whereas the candidate of the Labour Party, Obi, chose Dr Doyin Okupe, as the placeholder for his Vice Presidential post, the other hand, candidate of the APC, Tinubu, submitted the name of Alhaji Kabiru Masari, as his own placeholder.
Plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022, contended that the Electoral Act, 2022, did not make provision for a “place holder” or temporary running mate.
It argued that the subsequent resignation, withdrawal or substitution of Okupe and Masari, by both the LP and the APC, were illegal and unconstitutional.
PDP maintained that Obi and Tinubu could only qualify to contest the 2023 presidential election with Okupe and Masari as their respective running mates.
It further argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was bereft of the power to accept any withdrawal or substitution of both Okupe and Masari, without the LP and the APC conducting fresh primaries to substitute Obi and Tinubu.
The PDP told the court that both Okupe and Masari are not products of any primary election and as such were not validly nominated by the LP and the APC.
Delivering judgement on Monday, Justice Donatus Okorowo, held that the suit was not only incompetent, but amounted to gross abuse of the judicial process.
“This suit qualifies as one which amounts to an abuse of court process”, the court held, adding that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain an incompetent suit and accordingly dismissed it.
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