A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from the 2023 Presidential elections.
Justice Binta Nyako, in her judgment, said the suit was dismissed for constituting an abuse of the court process.
As you may know, many reports have emerged linking Tinubu to alleged criminal past as well as accusing him of using forged documents to contest the 2023 presidential election.
Lacking legal right: Justice Nyako stated that the plaintiff, the Incorporated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, lacked the locus standi (legal right) to file such a case as they are not a political party or a member of APC. She explained:
“The issue of locus standi of the applicant is a threshold issue because anything conducted without locus will be a nullity and it will be set aside.”
Abuse of Process: She also noted that the action was an abuse of process, citing Justice Inyang Ekwo had, on Dec. 15, 2022, delivered a judgment in a similar suit during which it was dismissed.
Nyako ruled that the instant suit had the same reliefs though the names of the parties were slightly different.
What you should know: The group, Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International sued the INEC chairman, the APC, and Mr Tinubu as 1st to 3rd defendants respectively.
They sought an order of mandamus directing INEC to exercise its statutory power in accordance with Section 84 (13) of the Electoral Act 2022 and immediately expunge Tinubu’s name from its final list of presidential candidates contesting the 2023 poll.
They cited the failure of the APC to comply with the mandatory provisions of Section 91(3) of the Electoral Act 2022 which stipulates that a political party shall not receive any contribution of cash or kind exceeding N50 million without showing the source of the contribution to INEC, among others.
Also, the People Democratic Party (PDP) had called for his disqualification, claiming that Bola Ahmed Tinubu allegedly stole the sum of $1 million belonging to Lagos State through a reported SPV Company, Soft Alliance.
