2023 Presidency: Court Gives Crucial Verdict Over APC’s Muslim-Muslim Ticket

• The presidential candidate of the ruling All Progress Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be contesting in next month's presidential poll
• Tinubu and the APC who have been battling a suit over the adoption of the same-faith ticket, were cleared by the Federal High Court in Abuja
• Justice Ahmed Mohammed who presided over the case said the suit seeking Tinubu's disqualification lacked locus standi

FCT, Abuja - The All Progressive Congress (APC) has been handed a favourable judgement by the Federal High Court in Abuja after it dismissed the suit filed by barrister Osigwe Momoh seeking the disqualification of Bola Tinubu as the flagbearer of the ruling party.

As reported by The Nation, Momoh filed the suit on the premise that the APC settled for a Muslim-Muslim ticket for next month's presidential polls.

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While issuing the verdict, Justice Ahmed Mohammed held that the plaintiff lacked the locus standi to approach the court on the issue.

The presiding judge went further to state that a favourable verdict would not be handed to the plaintiff due to a lack of evidence that he is a card-carrying member of the party.

The judge also stated that the court would have also heard the case if the plaintiff participated in the primary elections that produced Tinubu as the standard-bearer of the APC, hence the court will not be able to rule over the case.

Plaintiff makes a case

On the part of the plaintiff, the nomination of Tinubu and his running who are both of the same faith does not depict the principle of inclusivity in a country that is of diverse religions and ethnicity.

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He said APC, Tinubu, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – “are under a constitutional duty to ensure that the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any persons or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution."

Momoh said:

“The nomination of Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate of the APC being persons of the same religious faith is exclusionary, divisive and capable of polarizing the country along religious lines and it runs counter to the sacrosanct principles of social justice.”

Momoh prayed the court for, among others, an order nullifying the candidature of APC and Tinubu from participating in the presidential election on the ground that the nomination of Muslim-Muslim candidacy is unconstitutional and against the spirit and letters of sections 14, 15 and 224 of the 1999 Constitution.

"We have tried the Muslim-Christian ticket, let us try this too", Tinubu's wife tells Nigerians

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The wife of the APC presidential standard-bearer, Oluremi Tinubu, has urged Nigerians to try to support the ruling party's Muslim-Muslim ticket after the failure of many Christian-Muslim tickets.

Tinubu also urged Nigerians not to vote for her husband's second term if he failed in his first term as president if elected in the forthcoming poll.

The senator added that voting for the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket would be a point of reference when the Christian-Christian surfaces in the future.

Source: Legit.ng