Court throws out PDP suit seeking to disqualify Tinubu, Obi over placeholders
by ebor cletus ralph jr
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Peter Obi, presidential candidates for the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Labour Party (LP), respectively, were found to have chosen placeholders before announcing their running mates, according to a lawsuit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.
Justice Donatus Okorowo rejected the case on Monday on the grounds that the lawsuit was illegal and “an abuse of the court process.”
Justice Okorowo stated that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and that the lawsuit failed to establish a valid claim against the respondents.
“When a court finds out that a suit is an abuse of court process, the court has the right to dismiss it,” Okorowo stated while delivering his ruling.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC, Tinubu, his then running mate Kabiru Masari, the Labour Party, Obi, and his running mate Doyin Okupe were all named defendants in the lawsuit filed in June. The PDP asked the court to order INEC to prevent the two candidates from switching their running mates to Kashim Shettima and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively.
Additionally, the PDP requested that Tinubu and Obi be disqualified from running for president in 2023 unless they are accompanied by their stand-in running mates.
The opposition party had also asked the court to determine if “by the combined interpretation of Section 142(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sections 29(1), 31, 33 of the Electoral Act 2022, the first defendant (INEC) can validly accept any change or substitution of the Masari and Okupe as running mates of the APC and LP respectively.”
It also asked the court to rule that the presidential candidates be disqualified for substituting their running mates’ names, arguing that the term ‘placeholder’ is unknown to Nigerian law.
