BREAKING: Tribunal Strikes Out APM Petition Against Tinubu, Shettima

The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has lost its petition against President Bola Tinubu and his Vice President, Kashim Shettima.

VerseNews reports that the petition was dismissed during Wednesday’s judgment delivered at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

In the judgment delivered, the court held that issues raised by the APM in its petition contained pre-election matters that could only be determined by the Federal High Court.

Chairman of the panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, also dismissed the APM petition against the Independent National Electoral Commission and four others.

Listed as 1st to 5th respondents are INEC, All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and Kabiru Masari.

The tribunal ruled on each of the arguments put forward by APM.

According to the judge, the petitioners failed to prove their arguments and the petition was void of merits.

The judge also upheld preliminary objections raised by all the Respondents to challenge the competence of the petition.

Justice Tsammani held that since the petition centered on the qualification or otherwise of Tinubu to contest the presidential election, the APM ought to have gone to court within 14 days after Tinubu was nominated by the APC.

According to him, the cause of action bordered on a pre-election matter, the APM lacked the locus standi to challenge Tinubu’s nomination.