Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has asked the Supreme Court to hold that the Court of Appeal misconceived material facts, when it struck out a petition against President Bola Tinubu’s victory.
It prayed the apex court to hold that withdrawal of Kabiru Masari from the race amounted to withdrawal and invalidation of the candidate of Tinubu as presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the February 25 election.
In its brief of arguments, written by APM’s counsel, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, and filed at the Supreme Court on Monday, the party said the Court of Appeal wrongly and peremptorily struck out the petition.
Therefore, it prayed the apex court to set aside the decision of the lower court. APM also said striking out the 5th respondent, Masari, from its petition and consequent dismissal of the petition on September 6, 2023 was in error, because Masari was a necessary party to the dispute.
The Court of Appeal had dismissed APM’s petition based on pre-hearing motions filed by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Vice President Kashim Shettima. But only INEC tendered a document during the hearing, while APC, Tinubu and Shettima, and INEC did not call any witness.
APM said the grounds upon which its petition was predicated is that the 3rd respondent (Tinubu) was at the time of the election (February 25, 2023) not qualified to contest the poll, in line with Section 134(1) (a) of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment had read: “As fallout to my findings above, I hold the firm view that the issue of nomination or sponsorship of the 4th respondent being a pre-election matter ought to have been ventilated by the petitioner before the Federal High Court, as this court has no original jurisdiction to delve into the matter.”
