The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking the disqualification of Bola Tinubu as a candidate in the February 25 presidential election.
The suit, which alleged the inappropriate nomination of Tinubu’s running mate Kashim Shettima, sought to stop the president-elect from being sworn in on May 29.
A five-person panel led by Inyang Okoro dismissed the suit unanimously.
Adamu Jauro, a member of the panel who delivered the lead judgement, held that the PDP lacked the legal right to file a suit on an internal affair of APC.
“It should be noted that no political party can challenge the nomination of another political party.
“A political party lacks the right to challenge the activities of INEC on account of the nomination of another political party’s candidate.
“No court has the jurisdiction to entertain such a suit by another party,” the court held.
The court said PDP failed to show any harm it suffered because of Shettima’s alleged double nomination.
Agreeing with the Court of Appeal’s earlier judgement dismissing the suit, Jauro said, “I am in complete agreement with the Appeal Court that the PDP lacks the right to file this suit
“The appellant was unable to point to where the lower court determined the substantive issues on its merit.
“It is clear that the suit is statute-barred. Hence this court has no power to delve into the merit of the merit of the suit.”
The court awarded the cost of N2 million against PDP and in favour of the respondents.
