A Nigerian Judge, Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed, of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the nation’s capital, had on Wednesday, Jan.18, 2023, thrown out a suit by a rights lawyer seeking disqualification of the presidential candidate of the country’s ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his choice of selecting a fellow Muslim as his running mate.
An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Osigwe Momoh, had his suit thrown out by the Judge on the grounds that it lacked locus standi.
Justice Mohammed maintained that the lawyer who is not a member of APC “and having not participated in the process that produced Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shetima, cannot query them on the nominations.”
The legal practitioner had in the suit wanted the court to issue an order “nullifying” the candidature of APC and Tinubu from participating in the presidential election on the ground that “the nomination of Muslim-Muslim candidacy is unconstitutional and against the spirit and letters of sections 14, 15 and 224 of the 1999 Constitution.”
Barrister Momoh had argued that “the Muslim-Muslim candidacy runs counter to the spirit of national cohesion, integration and unity.”
He requested the court for “an order of perpetual injunction to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from publishing the name of APC and its presidential candidate for the 2023 election.”
However, Justice Mohammed differed from the plaintiff on the legal right to initiate the case in the first place and subsequently threw it out in totality.
Justice Mohammed upheld the preliminary objection of APC and Tinubu and did not award any cost against the plaintiff.
This story is relevant to Bay-6 News because Kashim Shettima, the chosen running mate of Mr Tinubu and the Presidential candidate of the opposition People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, are both from the northeast states of Borno and Adamawa. Bay-6 News covers the six states of the Northeast as the first catchment area before other parts of Nigeria and beyond.
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