The All Progressives Congress ,APC, has responded to petitions filed filed against its victory at the Presidential Election asking the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) in Abuja to dismiss petitions filed by People Democratic Party,PDP, Labour Party,LP, and Allied People’s Movement,APM for lacking in merits.
APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu was returned by Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC, as winner in the February 25,2023 general election and consequently declared President -Elect.
But the three political parties; Action Alliance (AA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Action People’s Party (APP) had, in separate petitions, challenged the emergence of Mr Tinubu as president-elect.
APC in its response to their petitions urged the tribunal to discountenance the petitions that was filed separately at PEPC’s Secretariat by Thomas Ojo, a member of the party’s legal team led by Lateef Fagbemi in Abuja.
In its notice of preliminary objection, the APC questioned the competence of the petition, noting that it was based solely on pre-election issues.
It said: “For an election petition to be competent, it must complain against the return and/or election of the winner of the disputed election.
“The instant petition is neither challenging and/or questioning the election of the 2nd and/or 3rd respondent (APC/Tinubu).
“The petition as presently constituted amounts to a pre-election matter of nomination and sponsorship of candidate(s).
“The crux of the petition being the nomination and sponsorship of the 1st petitioner’s candidate is statute barred, having not been commenced within the mandatory 14 days provided for under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999;
“Issues of nomination, sponsorship and exclusion of candidates for an election are issues that precede the conduct of an election and are pre-election matters that cannot be raised of canvased before an election
tribunal.
“Facts in support of the petition speak to intra —party issues, pre-election disputes and administrative actions of INEC triable by Federal High Court under Section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered by the 4th Alteration Act and outside the original jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal being a Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
Also in its reply, the APC prayed the tribunal to dismiss APM’s petition.
The party, in its preliminary objection equally filed on Sunday, argued that “the petitioner (APM) alone in the absence of its sponsored candidate cannot benefit and did not have any special interest in the election or return of the 3rd respondent (Tinubu) as the winner of the election.
The APC queried the legal capacity of the party to challenging the mode it adopted in nominating its candidate.
The APC argued that since the APM was not a member of the party, it did not know “how it becomes the petitioner’s business how it nominates its candidates.”
“The petitioner does not fall under the category of persons that can challenge the internal working operation of the 2nd respondent (APC) regarding the nomination and sponsorship of the 2nd respondent’s candidates for the election.”