Same Faith Ticket: Lawyer Drags APC, Tinubu To Court Over Alleged Constitutional Breach

BY VICTOR BUORO – Alleging that the same faith presidential ticket for the 2023 election is in breach of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mr Osigwe Momoh, has dragged the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.

According to Momoh, the ruling party’s decision to field Muslim-Muslim Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates violates the provisions of Nigeria’s constitution, and he is therefore asking the court to nullify the candidacy of APC’s flag bearers, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima.

Additionally, Momoh is praying the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) from accepting, recognising, or publishing their names as bonafide candidates for the 2023 presidential election.

In the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1188/2022, the APC, Tinubu, and INEC are cited as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Defendants, respectively with Momoh claiming that the ruling party’s decision to choose Tinubu and his running mate, Shettima, from the same religion, was in gross violation of the principle and the spirit of the Nigerian constitution.

The plaintiff further argued that by virtue of Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), political parties must have their Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates from different sections (tribal and religious groups) of the country.

Among others, Momoh is seeking a declaration that “by virtue of Sections 14 (1) and (3), 15 and 224(a) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the defendants are bound by the principles of Chapter II of the 1999 constitution (as amended) and having the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the same religion is unconstitutional and null and void.

“That all Political Parties must, by virtue of chapter two of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), have their presidential and vice presidential candidates from different sectional (tribal and religious) groups of the nation”.

He is also seeking “An order nullifying the candidacy of the APC, Tinubu (1st And 2nd), same being unconstitutional and against the spirit and letters of Sections 14 (1) & (3), 15 and 224 (a) of the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The court is yet to fix a date for the matter to be heard.