The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawsuit contesting the purported double nomination Kashim Shettima as Vice President-elect.
The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts on Friday that the PDP lacks the locus Standi to bring such a challenge.
Justice Adamu Jauro, who read the judgment, stated that the PDP acted as a meddling interloper and a busy body because it is an internal APC matter.
Even though the claim was dismissed for lack of merit, a payment of two million naira (N2,000,000) was awarded against the PDP.
The Justices further found that the appellant’s (PDP) attitude of calling the move as “sad” tantamount to deceiving the court.
Shettima resigned his Senate nomination on July 6, 2022, and was replaced. He was no longer a Senate contender at this point, hence his position as vice president did not constitute a double nomination violation.
The Supreme Court Justices reminded them that they made the judgement at the time and are fully aware of the details in the case of Uche Nwosu, on which the PDP relied.
In his situation, Uche Nwosu was nominated by two political parties for distinct posts. They held that the PDP’s suit was doomed to fail from the trial court to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The Justices also stated that the PDP’s actions were hurtful because it utilized social media to set up a trap for the Apex Court to blackmail it, characterizing the scenario as sad and uncalled for.
According to the justices, a political party has no authority to contest another party’s activity or INEC’s judgment in relation to another party.
They went on to say that in order to have locus standi to dispute a political party’s nomination process, the person must be both impartial and an aspirant for the office, as well as a member of the party.
The court ruled that the PDP must remain an onlooker regardless of how the APC conducted its primary elections and nominated its candidate.
They also reminded the PDP of the identical dilemma in 1999, when Atiku Abubakar was nominated for Governor but later became Olusegun Obasanjo’s Vice Presidential Candidate.
In that circumstance, Atiku’s running partner, Boni Haruna, took up the nomination for Governor. INEC sought to hold a new election at the time, but the party fought it all the way to the Supreme Court.
The court pointedly questioned the opposition party what had changed since 1999.
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The PDP claimed in their action that Shettima’s selection as Tinubu’s running mate violated the provisions of sections 29(1), 33, 36, and 84(1)(2) of the Electoral Act 2022, but the court ruled that the opposition party had no case.
