2023 Presidential Poll: Court Declines To Disqualify Obi, Tinubu

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The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, declined to disqualify the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, from contesting the 2023 presidential election.

The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Donatus Okorowo, equally refused to invalidate the candidacy of the presidential flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

It held that a suit the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lodged against the two presidential candidates, lacked merit and deserved to be dismissed.

The PDP had approached the court, accusing both Obi and Tinubu of acting in breach of the Electoral Act.

It told the court that contrary to provisions of the electoral law, both Obi and Tinubu, failed to nominate their running mates in due time, chosing 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, on the other hand, candidate of the APC, Tinubu, submitted the name of Alhaji Kabiru Masari as his own place holder.

The 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 a temporary running mate.

It argued that the subsequent resignation, withdrawal or substitution of Okupe and Masari by both the LP and the APC, was 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.

PDP told the court that both Okupe and Masari were not products of any primary election and as such were not validly nominated by the LP and the APC.

The plaintiff argued that INEC could not validly make any other election time table for the change and substitution of Okupe and Masari as running mates to Obi and Tinubu.

It insisted that the candidacy of Obi and Tinubu are tied to Okupe and Masari and same could not be severed, altered or changed any day later than June 17, 2022.

Aside from Obi and Tinubu, INEC, LP, APC, Masari and Okupe were cited as 1st to 7th defendants in the matter.

Meanwhile, in his judgement on Monday, Justice Okorowo held that the suit was not only incompetent, but amounted to gross abuse of the judicial process.

The court held that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain an incompetent suit and accordingly dismissed it.

It upheld preliminary objections the defendants filed in opposition to the suit.

“This suit qualifies as one which amounts to an abuse of court process”, Justice Okorowo held.

Both LP and the APC had challenged the competence of the suit which they said was in violation of section 285(14) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as section 84 of the Electoral Act.

The defendants equally challenged the locus standi of the PDP to query the internal affairs of other political parties.

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