The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in a lawsuit on Thursday, July 14, is requesting that Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) be disqualified from running in the 2023 presidential election.
The main opposition is asking the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to stop Peter Obi and Bola Tinubu from succeeding Gov. Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe, respectively, who are serving as temporary replacements.
The PDP requests that the court order the two candidates to refrain from choosing Senators Kashim Shettima and Datti Baba-Ahmed as their running mates.
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The main opposition also requested that Tinubu and Obi be declared ineligible unless they are running against Okupe and Masari, respectively.
Summons By PDP
In the originating summons, with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1016/2022, the PDP is seeking an order barring INEC from replacing the running mates of Tinubu and Obi.
Those listed as first to seventh respondents in the case are INEC, APC, Tinubu, Masari, Labour Party, Obi and Okupe.
Masari and Okupe were used as placeholders by Tinubu and Obi to meet the deadline for submitting their running mates following the primaries imposed by INEC.
The two presidential hopefuls switched their nominations earlier this week. While Tinubu chose Kashim Shettima, the former governor of Borno State, as his running partner, Obi chose Datti Baba-Ahmed.
And the main opposition PDP has now asked the court to decide whether the interpretation of Sections 142(1) of the Constitution, 29(1), 31, and 33 of the Electoral Act 2022, as well as INEC’s timeline, binds the presidential candidates of the APC and LP to their selections of Masari and Okupe, respectively, as their running mates.
The PDP also wants the court to determine if
By the combined interpretation of Section 142(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sections 29(1), 31, 33 of the Electoral Act 2022, the first defendant (the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC) can validly accept any change or substitution of the 4th (Masari) and 7th (Okupe) defendants as running mates of the 3rd (APC) and 6th (Labour Party) defendants.
The party asked the court to rule that both Tinubu and Obi will be disqualified the moment they substitute the names of their running mates.
