The inauguration of Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima as President and Vice President respectively has been sealed as the Supreme Court has struck out a suit seeking their disqualification over alleged double nomination.
The appeal was filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through their counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN).
The PDP alleged that Shettima had double nomination as senatorial candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District and vice-presidential candidate under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The five man panel of Justices of the Apex court, led by Justice Adamu Jauro, held that the PDP’s appeal praying disqualification of Tinubu and Shetima on ground of alleged double nomination by Shetima was grossly lacking in merit and dismissed it.
Consequently, the court awarded a cost of N2million on PDP.
It held that PDP has no right to meddle in the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress (APC)in the conduct of its primary elections and nomination of its candidates.
Justice agreed with Tinubu’s lawyer, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN that PDP acted as busy body and meddlesome interloper in the ways and manners it dabbled into APC’s affairs unjustly.
The Apex Court held that apart from the fact that PDP lacked requisite jurisdiction to institute the suit, the party also failed to prove by documentary evidence that Shettima engaged in double nomination.
It maintained that Shettima withdrew from the Senatorial race before accepting the nomination as Vice Presidential candidate for the APC
Therefore, the Apex court described the PDP’s claim on the alleged double nomination of the Vice President-elect as most unfortunate and a clear deliberate mischief to mislead the Court and the country.
The Supreme Court also agreed with lawyer Fagbemi (SAN) that no matter the pains of PDP on how APC conducted it’s primary election and nominated its candidates, PDP must remain an onlooker.
“It is abundantly clear that the Appellant (PDP) in the totality of its position in the instant case, is peeping and poke-nosing into the affairs of another party as a busybody and meddlesome interloper,” Fagbemi had said.
The Court held that the action of PDP was painful because it used the social media to set a trap for the Supreme Court to blackmail it.
“This is most unfortunate, unwarranted and uncalled for and I advise the perpetrators to desist from it,” the court said.
