Court Strikes Out APM’s Suit Against Shettima, Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petitions sitting in Abuja has struck out the suit filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) accusing Vice-President Kashim Shettima of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of double nomination in the 2023 general elections.

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, who read the lead judgment, held that an invalid nomination or double nomination did not qualify as a ground for disqualification in respect of the presidential election as provided in sections 131 and 137 of the constitution.

Reading his verdict, Tsammani said the matter ought to have been challenged before the conduct of the presidential election.

Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the Presidential Petition Election Tribunal on Wednesday said the Allied Peoples Movement’s petition challenging the qualification of Vice President, Kashim Shettima, was a pre-election matter.

He also held that Mr Ibrahim Masari, who was nominated as a placeholder by the APC (for the position of the Vice President), was not a necessary party to the petition because he was neither a candidate nor did he win the election.