The Presidential Election Petition Court has struck out the Allied Peoples Movement petitions against President Bola Tinubu and his Vice President, Kashim Shettima, for lack of merit. 

Reading the ruling, Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, dismissed and described the case filed to nullify Tinubu’s election as “incompetent”, stressing that the issues raised by the APM in its petition contained pre-election matters that could only be determined by the Federal High Court. 

The tribunal also dismissed the APM petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission and four others, as it ruled on each of the arguments put forward by APM.

Tsammani said the petitioners failed to prove their arguments and the petition was void of merits, as he upheld preliminary objections raised by all the Respondents to challenge the competence of the petition. 

Tsammani held that since the petition centered on the qualification of Tinubu to contest the presidential election, noting that the APM ought to have gone to court within 14 days after Tinubu was nominated by the APC.

He held that since the cause of action bordered on a pre-election matter, the APM lacked the locus standi to challenge Tinubu’s nomination, stressing that the law did not allow a political party to query the process adopted by another political party in nominating its candidate.

The judge further held that invalid nomination or double nomination did not qualify as a ground for disqualification in respect of presidential election as provided in sections 131 and 137 of the Constitution.