BREAKING NEWS: Court Dismisses Lawsuit To Disqualify Peter Obi And Bola Tinubu

A lawsuit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to disqualify Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, over the alleged illegal substitution of their running mates was dismissed on Monday by Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

According to the judge, PDP lacked merit and was only intended to irritate candidates in the 2023 presidential election.

Gordy Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, brought the lawsuit on behalf of the PDP, but Justice Okorowo explicitly ruled that it was unreasonable and unprofessional since it did not state a viable cause of action.

The judge further stated that PDP had utterly failed to disclose any harm that had resulted from the swap of running mates by the APC and the Labour Party.

Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe, of the APC and Labour Party, respectively, are the candidates whose replacements are being contested by the PDP.

In the lawsuit, the PDP argued that the Electoral Act of 2022 did not make provision for a “place holder” or temporary running mate and that Masari and Okupe were exempted from the provision that presidential candidates could resign, withdraw, or be replaced by someone else or that new primaries be held to select their replacements.

The PDP further argued that Tinubu and Obi could only compete for president in 2023 if Masari and Okupe served as their respective running mates.

However, the judge ruled that the matter of nomination and substitution is a matter of the parties’ internal affairs and that courts lack the authority to become involved.