On Wednesday, two APC members formally petitioned the Federal High Court in Abuja to prevent the party from designating Masari Kabiru as its vice presidential candidate in the general elections of 2023.
On June 17, the APC chose Masari to serve as a temporary running mate for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is the party’s presidential candidate.
Tinubu had last month declared that the search for his running mate was still ongoing.
The plaintiffs, Zakari Maigari and Zubainatu Mohammed, had in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1059/2022 and dated July 4, 2022, challenged the APC’s plan to substitute Masari’s name, citing sections 142(1) and sections 29(1), 31 and 33 of the Electoral Act.
Tinubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Masari were listed as respondents in the suit.
They sought to determine the legality of replacing the placeholder with another candidate.
According to the plaintiffs, section 187 (1) of the 1999 Constitution allows the governorship candidate and deputy-governorship candidate to have a joint ticket the same way section 142(1) encourages the joint-ticket for the presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate.
