The All Progressives Congress (APC) and their presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, were ordered on Tuesday by the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja to respond to all remaining applications in the lawsuit filed by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
According to reports, the Nigerian Electoral Commission, INEC, proclaimed Mr. Tinubu the victor of the presidential election held on February 25.
A five- member panel chaired by Haruna Tsammani presided over the APM’ s case during a pre- hearing session of the court and accepted submissions from lawyers representing the parties involved. The panel then ordered that all parties file responses to all ongoing applications before the next hearing date. Mr. Tsammani continued the pre-hearing session by adjourning the petition to Thursday.
Oyetola Atoyebi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) defending APM, informed the court that his client has answered the pre-hearing session questions. According to Abubakar Mahmoud, a SAN for INEC, the commission filed its responses to the pre-hearing questions on May 5th. “We have three applications listed, and we will move the applications at the appropriate time,” Mr. Mahmoud added.
In its appeal, APM asks the court to overturn all of Mr. Tinubu’s votes in the presidential election, citing his disqualification as an APC candidate. The party is asking the court to declare that the presidential candidate of a rival party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar (who is simultaneously filing a separate lawsuit), should be declared the election winner.
This case has been underway since 2019, and it is one of the most contentious and closely followed in Nigerian political history. The APM, which was once a constituent of the ruling APC, accused the party of failing to hold credible primaries in Ogun State, which resulted in the disqualification of the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Adekunle Akinlade. The APM later endorsed Mr. Akinlade as its candidate.
However, the APC went on to nominate Mr. Dapo Abiodun as its candidate for the governorship race, which Mr. Abiodun won. The APM then filed a petition to overturn Mr. Abiodun’s election, claiming Mr. Tinubu’s disqualification as an APC candidate.
This case is notable because it is one of the few in Nigeria when a political party’s primaries have been called into question. The case is also significant since it concerns a high-profile politician such as Mr. Tinubu, who is largely considered as one of Nigeria’s most powerful leaders.
