The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, asked a Federal High Court, Abuja, to dismiss a suit seeking his disqualification from the 2023 election.
Justice Nyako has however fixed January 27 for judgment.
Tinubu, through his counsel, Karma Fagbemi, told Justice 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 the case, which invariably challenged the political party’s decision and its internal affairs.
APC’s lawyer, Ibrahim Audu, also spoke in the same vein.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the group had sued the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the APC and Tinubu as first to third 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.
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The group alluded its ground to the failure of the APC to comply with the mandatory provisions of Section 91(3) of the 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.
Fagbemi argued that the suit was statute barred as the plaintiff had failed to bring their claim against Tinubu within the 14 days stipulated by the 1999 Constitution.
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