Like I said a month ago in these forums, the lawyers suing for the disqualifications of Tinubu, Peter Obidiot and Atiku based on Sections 131, 141 and 142 of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 as amended don’t understand the constitution. They are are wasting their time. The three thieves called Tinubu, Atiku and Peter Obidiot (I call them Three Muskethieves) can not be disqualified based on any of the three sections above. What they should be gunning for are Sections 29 and 33 of the Electoral Act of 2022. By virtual of the two sections, nominated VP candidates cannot withdraw and Presidential Candidates or the sponsoring parties cannot substitute any one that has been presented to INEC as running mate. Only the Presidential Candidates could be changed, if and only if, such candidates withdrew or died and could only be done by the sponsoring political parties. 

What the lawyers should be gunning for are Tinubu and Peter Obidiot’s replacement nominees. The electoral law or the constitution doesn’t recognize placeholders. Those people Tinubu and Peter Obidiot nominated as placeholders for VP are the real nominees in the eyes of the law and the constitution of Nigeria. They can’t withdraw them or substitute them after the primaries. Only the Presidential Candidates can be substituted, if anyone of them dies or withdrawals. To substitute a VP candidate, a new primary has to be held, in which case, both Tinubu and Peter Obidiot have to officially withdraw as the Presidential Candidates through their sponsoring parties who must submit notice of such withdrawal to INEC and those parties must hold new primaries to elect their presidential and vice presidential candidates and then submit new VP candidates to INEC. 

My Yoruba people call it “Ogbe Jumbo”, meaning they (Tinubu and Peter Obidiot) have miscarried. 

Hahaha!
The lawyers should press only this issue in court and both Tinubu and Peter Obidiot will be in trouble.
Hahaha!

INEC speaks on suit seeking disqualification of Tinubu, Peter Obi

Daily Post

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Friday reacted to a suit seeking to disqualify the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu and his Labour Party, LP, counterpart, Peter Obi, from participating in the 2023 election.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had dragged INEC to court and sought an injunction stopping Tinubu and Obi from selecting Kashim Shettima and Datti Baba-Ahmed as their running mates.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had dragged INEC to court and sought an injunction stopping Tinubu and Obi from selecting Kashim Shettima and Datti Baba-Ahmed as their running mates.

In the suit, PDP urged the court to rule that Tinubu and Obi should be disqualified if they fail to run with their initial running mates, Kabiru Masari and Doyin Okupe.

Reacting, INEC’s Commissioner for confirmation and Education, Festus Okoye, said only the court would decide Tinubu and Obi’s disqualification from the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking on Arise TV on Friday, Okoye said INEC has not been served with the court processes.

He said; “So, I am not aware of whether we’ve been served with any document relating to any suit of the complexion that you have talked about. But let me just say that if a matter is in court, the matter is sub-judice and we are not supposed to comment on it. Secondly, when political parties submitted the names of their presidential candidates and their vice-presidential candidates, there was no provision for a placeholder in the forms they submitted.

“They submitted the forms for their presidential candidates and they submitted the forms for the vice-presidential candidates and that is the situation.

However, if you look at section 33 of the Electoral 22, it says that a political party shall not be allowed to substitute or change its candidate whose name has been submitted under section 29 of the Electoral Act, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate. But it goes ahead to say that provided that in the case of such a withdrawal or death of the candidate, the political parties affected shall within the occurrence of the event hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the commission for the election concerned.

Initially, Tinubu had submitted Masari’s name to INEC as a placeholder ahead of the deadline for submission of running mates.

Also, Obi submitted the name of Okupe as his placeholder.

However, Tinubu and Obi substituted the initial names with Kashim Shettima and Baba-Ahmed respectively.