Elections: Supreme Court throws out lawsuit by ex-minister, Nwajiuba, seeking to disqualify

A petition that Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party were ineligible to run for president on behalf of their respective political parties has been rejected.

The appeal submitted by Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, a former minister of state for education, was denied by the Supreme Court on Thursday in Abuja.

The lawsuit was dismissed by the Apex Court on the grounds that it was statute-barred and had no foundation upon which to stand.

When dismissing the appeal, Justice John Inyang Okoro, who presided over a five-member panel of Justices of the Court, did not impose costs on the former Minister for withdrawing his petition after learning that it was submitted outside the legal deadline.

Nwajiuba and a non-governmental organization, Rights for Everyone International, had petitioned the Supreme Court to annul the procedures that had resulted in Tinubu and Abubakar being the candidates for their respective political parties.

On the same basis that his case lacked merit to justify the court’s attention, he had lost before the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, both in Abuja.

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