Action Alliance files fresh suit against APC seeking to get Tinubu and Shettima disqualified

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is facing another legal challenge to his candidacy this time from the Action Alliance (AA) who want him barred because he running mate Senator Kashim Shettima is doubly nominated.

Last  month, Asiwaju Tinubu emerged as the APC presidential candidate after coasting home in a landslide victory following the party's convention in Abuja. Following his victory, he laboured to select a running mate after publicly declaring that he will pick a Christian from the northeast geo-political zone as his deputy but the process appeared fraught with difficulty.

Earlier this month, however, after weeks of prevarication, Asiwaju Tinubu, himself a Muslim, ended up selecting a fellow Muslim in former Borno State governor Senator Kashim Shettima. His choice has polarised the country as the Christian faithful feel highly marginalised and already, several senior party members have left the APC over the matter.

Already facing at least one lawsuit over the matter, with Abuja lawyer Osagie Momoh claiming that the fielding of a Muslim-Muslim ticket breaches Chapter Two of the 1999 constitution, the APC is facing another major challenge. According to the AA is seeking the disqualification of the APC from the 2023 presidential polls on the grounds that it has nominated a candidate for more than one constituency in the 2023 general elections.

AA lawyer Ukpai Ukairo, said they were seeking declaration that the nomination of Senator Shettima is void arising from the express provision of Section 35 of the 1999 constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022, as allowed himself to be nominated in more than one constituency for the 2023 elections. He added that this is because Senator Shettima is listed as both as a candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District election and vice president in the 2023 general elections.

As a result, the AA is seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from listing the names of Tinubu and Shettima as presidential and vice presidential candidates in the final list of candidates for the 2013 elections. No date has yet been fixed for the hearing of the suit.