The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal has struck out a suit filed by the Allied Peoples Movement, APM against the vice President, Kashim Shettima.
The APM had filed a suit seeking to disqualify Kashim Shettima on the grounds of him nomination exceeding the 14 days window of name replacement.
Spearheading the judgement, Justice Haruna said the tribunal lacked basis to judge the case as it was a matter that was suppose to be before the high court.
He also said the time frame to decide on the matter had exceeded the 180 days window.
“In Alhassan and others versus Ishaku and others, it was held that an election tribunal has no jurisdiction on the primary of a political party,” he said.
He said the matters of qualification and disqualification are guided by the provisions of sections 131 and 137(1)(a)(j) of the Nigerian Constitution.
He held that issue complained of was an internal affair of a political party.
APM had contended that Tinubu and Shettima were not validly nominated to contest the February 25. They argue that by the combined reading of sections 131(c) and 142(2) of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 and Section 133 of the Electoral Act made them to invalid.
They contend that when Kabiru Masari announced his withdrawal as an APC placeholder on June 24, 2022 to the date Shettima’s name was forwarded to INEC on July 14, 2022, was 21 days which breached Section 33 of the Electoral Act, 2022, which provides for 14 days for the replacement of a candidate for an election.
