The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by a former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, challenging the candidacy of President-elect Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.
In a judgment on Thursday, a five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice John Okoro, found that the case was statute barred and that it had become an academic exercise.
He dismissed the appeal after appellants’ lawyer, John Awa Kalu, applied to withdraw it.
Justice Okoro held: “Upon the application for withdrawal by the appellant’s counsel and without any objection from the respondent’s counsel, the appeal is dismissed.”
The Supreme Court, by its decision, affirmed the two previous decisions by the Court of Appeal and Federal High Court, both in Abuja.
Nwajiuba had, in his suit before the Federal High Court, sought, among others, the voiding of Tinubu’s candidacy on the grounds that he and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), allegedly failed to disclose the source of the N100 million he paid for the Nomination and Expression of Interest forms, relying on the provision of Section 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022.
In his suit, Nwajiuba prayed the court, among others, to declare him as the presidential candidate of the APC on the grounds that he was the only aspirant who disclosed the source of the N100 million he paid to the party for his Nomination and Expression of Interest forms.
