APM concludes case against Tinubu

The Allied Peoples Movement concluded its case against President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday after calling a witness to testify before the Presidential Election Petition Court.

In its letter, PAM is contesting Tinubu’s election because his vice president Kashim Shettima has nominated him as the senatorial and vice presidential candidate ahead of the February 25 election.

The group asked the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory because the process that led to his election as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission was flawed.

INEC, President Tinubu, Vice President Shettima, their party, All Progressives Congress and Ibrahim Masari are accused in this case.

Pinheiro said an earlier judgement by the Supreme Court that dismissed a similar suit filed by another party, the Peoples Democratic Party, was based on the APC’s letter announcing Shettima’s withdrawal from the senatorial race.

Other respondents, including Tinubu and the APC, adopted INEC’s defence.

On his part, counsel for the APC, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, presented a certified true copy of the Supreme Court judgement that dismissed the PDP’s suit against Shettima’s alleged dual nomination.

The witness confirmed the authenticity of the apex court decision, which was subsequently admitted in evidence.

In a similar vein, counsel for Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, informed the court of several paragraphs of the Supreme Court verdict, which Abubakar read in open court.

The senior advocate sought to establish the frivolity of the petition challenging Tinubu’s victory.

After the witness was discharged, a subpoenaed witness from INEC, John Arabs, a deputy director, tendered an “original online form submitted by Mr Shettima,” amongst other electoral documents.

After listening to all the lawyers in the suit, the chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, directed the respondents to file their final written addresses within 10 days from Wednesday.

He ordered the APM to file its written address within seven days from the date of the respondents’ filing and adjourned the hearing in the suit until July 14 for the adoption of written addresses.

Before Wednesday’s proceeding, the case of the APM suffered a lull due to a recent Supreme Court judgement that ruled in a similar matter it filed before the PEPC.

Counsel for Tinubu, Olanipekun, informed the court on May 30 of the judgement, which, according to him, appears to have resolved the same issue the APM has brought before the court.

He had referenced the Supreme Court’s decision of Friday, May 26, that dismissed the suit filed by the PDP, which prayed to the court to nullify the ticket that produced the president and his vice president on grounds of double nomination.

Olanipekun sought to know if the decision of the Apex Court does not affect the case of the APM, which is also challenging the outcome of the election on the grounds of using a placeholder, Kabir Masari, for the elected vice-president, Kassim Shettima.

At the resumed hearing on the petition on Monday, counsel for APM, G.A. Idiagbonya, informed the court that he still wants to go ahead with the case despite Olanikpekun’s reminder of the apex court’s judgement