Supreme court dismisses Nwajiuba’s suit against Tinubu, Atiku over alleged vote buying

The supreme court has dismissed an appeal filed by Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, former minister of state for education, seeking to disqualify Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidates of their political parties.

In the judgment delivered on Thursday, the apex court panel led by Inyang Okoro dismissed the suit for being statute-barred.

Before the dismissal of the suit, the appellant opted to withdraw the case after the court pointed out that the appeal was filed outside the timeframe prescribed by law.

Nwajiuba and the Rights for All International (RAI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), had asked a federal high court in Abuja to void the processes that produced Tinubu and Abubakar as candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) respectively.

They alleged that both men bought the votes of delegates to enable them to become flag bearers of their parties.

Inyang Ekwo, federal high court judge, dismissed the suit, saying the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs do not have the locus standi (the right or capacity) to file the suit.

“It is only in this country that an association registered for charitable purposes will venture into partisan politics with such audacious sense of impunity,” Ekwo had said.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the plaintiffs proceeded to the court of appeal.

The court of appeal also dismissed the suit for lacking merit.

Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) standard bearer, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) to win the February 25 presidential election.