The inauguration of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima has received the legal nod from the Supreme Court.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s PDP lawsuit, which sought to exclude them from the 2023 presidential election, was rejected by the court on Friday.
The PDP’s lawsuit asking for Tinubu and Shettima’s disqualification was deemed to have a glaring lack of substance by the Supreme Court, which rejected it.
In the lead ruling, Justice Adamu Jauro imposed a fine of N2 million on the PDP for interfering with the All Progressives Congress’ internal affairs during the primary election process and the nomination of its candidates.
Justice Jauro concurred with Tinubu’s attorney, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, that PDP behaved unlawfully by interfering in APC’s activities as a busy body and meddling invader.
The Apex Court ruled that in addition to the PDP lacking the necessary authority to file the lawsuit, the party had also failed to provide any proof that Shettima had used a double nomination scheme.
The PDP’s allegation of the Vice President-elect’s duplicate nomination was called regrettable and obviously intentional mischief intended to deceive the Court and the public.
The Supreme Court also agreed with Fagbemi that PDP must remain an observer notwithstanding its complaints over way the APC conducted its primary poll and chose its candidates.
He said, “It is abundantly clear that the Appellant (PDP) in the entirety of its position in the present case is peeping and poke nosing into the affairs of another party as a busy body and meddlesome interloper.”
The court said that PDP’s move was hurtful because it put up a booby trap on social media for the Supreme Court to utilize as leverage to blackmail it.
It said that this is very regrettable, unjustified, and uncalled for.
