A complaint filed by the Peoples Democratic Party seeking the disqualification of All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, was dismissed by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The action contesting the legitimacy of Tinubu and Obi’s swap of running mates was dismissed on Monday on the grounds that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and that the suit was a blatant abuse of court procedure.
Justice Donatus Okoronkwo further stated that the PDP’s requests for relief were all unrecognised.
The PDP claims that the Electoral Act 2022 does not allow for a “placeholder” or interim running mate, and that the replacement of running mates does not apply to Ibrahim Masari and Doyin Okupe.
The PDP further claims that Tinubu and Obi may only run in the 2023 presidential election with Masari and Okupe as their running mates.
The PDP further alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission lacked the authority to accept Masari and Okupe’s withdrawal or substitution without the APC and Labour Party holding fresh primaries to replace Tinubu and Obi, among others.
Obi had chosen Okupe as his short-term fix to meet INEC’s deadline, but he was later replaced by Datti Baba-Ahmed.
Similarly, Masari was a placeholder for Tinubu, but the APC candidate later replaced him with Kashim Shettima, the ex-governor of Borno State.
Along with Tinubu and Obi, the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar is running for president, among other contenders.
