Tinubu, Atiku win at Supreme Court

The supreme court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by former minister of state for education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, seeking to disqualify Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidates of their political parties.

The Apex court in the judgment delivered by the panel led by Justice Inyang Okoro dismissed the suit for being statute-barred.

Before the dismissal of the suit, the appellant opted to withdraw the case after the court pointed out that the appeal was filed outside the timeframe prescribed by law.

Nwajiuba and a non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Rights for All International (RAI), had asked a federal high court in Abuja to void the processes that produced Tinubu and Abubakar as candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) respectively.

They alleged that both men bought the votes of delegates to enable them to become flag bearers of their parties.

But Justice Inyang Ekwo of the federal high court, dismissed the suit, saying that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs do not have the locus standi to file the suit.

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“It is only in this country that an association registered for charitable purposes will venture into partisan politics with such audacious sense of impunity,” Ekwo had said.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the plaintiffs proceeded to the court of appeal.

The court of appeal also dismissed the suit for lacking merit.