A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to disqualify the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu; and Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022 is challenging the legality of the substitution of the running mates for Tinubu and Obi.
The PDP asked the court to declare that Tinubu and Obi be disqualified unless they contest alongside their previous running mates – Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe.
Those listed as first to seventh respondents in the case are INEC, APC, Tinubu, Masari, Labour Party, Obi and Okupe.
All the respondents in the suit challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter.
Justice Donatus Okoronkwo dismissed the suit on Monday on the grounds that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit and that the suit was a gross abuse of court process.
Justice Donatus Okoronkwo also noted that all the reliefs sought by the PDP were not grantable.
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The PDP is claiming that the Electoral Act 2022 did not make provision for a “placeholder” or temporary running mate and that the replacement of running mates is not applicable to Ibrahim Masari and Doyin Okupe.
The PDP further claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission lacked the power to accept any withdrawal or substitution of Masari and Okupe without the APC and Labour Party conducting fresh primaries to substitute Tinubu and Obi, amongst others.
Obi had selected Okupe as his placeholder to beat INEC’s deadline but later replaced him with Datti Baba-Ahmed while Masari was the placeholder for Tinubu. Masari was later substituted with the ex-governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
