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 Court Dismiss PDP’s Suit Against Shettima

The suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the alleged double Nomination of Kassim Shettima, the Vice President-elect has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

In a judgment led by Justice Adamu Jauro on Friday, the Apex court concurred with the lower courts that the PDP lacks the locus standi to institute such a case.

As it is an APC internal matter, Jauro stated that the PDP acted as an intrusive interloper and a busybody.

Even though the PDP’s lawsuit was dismissed for lack of merit, two million naira (N2,000,000) was granted against the PDP.

The Justices additionally ruled that the appellant’s (PDP) conduct amounted to misrepresenting the court by characterizing the action as “sad”.

They ruled that a political party has no authority to contest another party’s action or an INEC decision regarding another party.

They further stated that a person must be a party member, a candidate for the office, and a neutral person to have locus standi to dispute a political party’s nomination procedure.

The Justices further held that the action of the PDP was painful as it used social media to set a trap for the Apex court to blackmail it, describing this situation as unfortunate and uncalled for.

They added that for a person to have locus standi to challenge the nomination process of a political party, the person must be a neutral person and an aspirant to that position, and a member of the party.

No matter how much the PDP protests the way the APC ran its primary polls and chose its nominee, the courts ruled that the PDP must watch from a distance.

They also brought up the situation to remind the PDP that in 1999, Atiku Abubakar was nominated for the position of governor but then switched to running as Olusegun Obasanjo’s running mate. 

The Governorship Nomination was then taken over by Atiku’s running mate, Boni Haruna. The party fought against INEC’s plan to hold fresh elections at the time, and it eventually reached the Supreme Court..

The court asked the opposition party rhetorically what has changed since 1999.

On July 6, 2022, Shettima withdrew his senate nomination, and he was subsequently succeeded. His status as vice president did not violate the prohibition against multiple nominations at this point because he was no longer a senatorial candidate.

The PDP alleged that Shettima’s selection as Tinubu’s running mate violated the provisions of sections 29(1), 33, 36, and 84(1)(2) of the Electoral Act 2022 in its lawsuit, but the court emphasized in its decision that the opposition party had no case.

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