2023 Presidency: Tinubu knows fate Jan 7 over suit challenging his candidacy

The judgment in the suit seeking to stop Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from contesting the 2023 presidency has been fixed for January 27, 2023 by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

At the resumption of the case on Wednesday, Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), told the court to dismiss the suit seeking his nullification from the 2023 general election.

Tinubu, through his counsel, Karma Fagbemi, told Justice Binta Nyako that the plaintiff, the Incor­porated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, was a meddlesome interloper who was neither a politi­cal party nor a candidate in the poll.

He said the plaintiff lacked locus standi (legal right) to institute such as case against his client. He said the suit invariably challenged the political party’s decision and its internal affairs and shouldn’t be coming from the plaintiff.

APC lawyer, Ibrahim Audu, also spoke in the same vein.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group had sued the INEC chairman, the APC and Tinubu as 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively.

The group, in an orig­inating motion on no­tice marked FHC/ABJ/ CS/1960/22, sought an or­der of mandamus direct­ing INEC to exercise its statutory power in accor­dance with section 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022 to immediately expunge Tinubu’s name from its final list of presidential candidates contesting the 2023 poll.

The group alluded its ground to the failure of the APC to comply with the mandatory provisions of section 91(3) of Electoral Act 2022 which stipulates that a political party shall not receive any contribu­tion of cash or kind ex­ceeding N50 million with­out showing the source of the contribution to INEC, among others.

But Tinubu, in a prelim­inary objection filed by his lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) prayed the court to dismiss the suit for be­ing incompetent.

Giving a 14-ground argument, the lawyer said the subject matter of the suit was a challenge of his client’s eligibility in contesting for the 2023 presidential election on the ground that the APC failed and/or neglected to identify the source of the N100 million which he paid for his expression of interest and nomination form.

He described the suit as non-justiciable.

Fagbemi argued that the suit was statute barred as plaintiff had failed to bring their claim against Tinubu within the 14-day period stipulated by the 1999 con­stitution (as amended).

He said the court, there­fore, lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case.

He further argued that the plaintiff ’s originating process is incompetent as the nomenclature ‘origi­nating motion on notice’ is a process appropriate for a pre-election matter.

Justice Nyako fixed January 27 for judgment after counsel to the plaintiff, Johnmary Jideobi; APC lawyer, Audu, and Fagbemi, who appeared for Tinubu, adopted their processes and presented their argu­ments for and against the suit.