Skip to main content
Supreme Court To hear appeal seeking Buhari’s disqualification today

Ifeanyi Valentine 

The Supreme Court has fixed today (Monday) for hearing in an appeal seeking the disqualification of President Muhammadu Buhari as a candidate in the last presidential election.

It was learnt on Sunday that parties to the case had been served the Supreme Court’s hearing notice for the today’s proceedings.

The case, which was earlier dismissed by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, was anchored on the allegation that Buhari submitted false information regarding his academic qualification and certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission as a candidate in the February 23, 2019 poll.

The appeal which was filed by Kalu Kalu Agu, Labaran Ismail, Hassy Jyari El-Kunis – anchored on 12 grounds, before the Supreme Court to challenge the July 12, 2019 judgment of the Court of Appeal.

The Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, also raised similar issue in their petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

The three appellants had, on their part, commenced their case before the Federal High Court in Abuja in 2018, alleging that Buhari falsely claimed to possess a school certificate he never had.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, in his judgment delivered on May 2, 2019, struck out the suit for being statute-barred.

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson, in a unanimous judgment delivered on July 12, 2019, affirmed the Federal High Court’s verdict, dismissing the suit on the grounds that it was statute-barred and the court robbed of jurisdiction to hear it on merit.

Delivering the lead judgment of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mohammed Idris held that  the matter had become statute-barred having not been filed within the 14 days period which the cause of action arose, as stipulated under Section 285(9) of the Nigerian Constitution.

The appellants, through their counsel, Ukpai Ukairo, on July 24, 2019, are urging the apex court to set aside the verdicts of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Benin Republic set to review Constitution on terms of Political Office. In a year when many countries on the continent and in West Africa are changing their constitutions to allow for incumbent presidents to run yet again, the Beninese National Assembly has approved a major constitutional reform to discuss the precision on the two terms of office of the President of the Republic among other issues. Detailing the political situation of Benin at the floor of the ECOWAS Parliament, the country report presented contained that the constitutions review was to address the current political situation of the country marking a new Republic following two unsuccessful attempts. The report stated that “Benin Republic has after the April 2019 Legislative elections experienced a tense atmosphere following the frustrating feelings from political group who were unable to participate in the legislative elections, due to the inability to meet the requirement on the law on the constit...

ECOWAS Parliament, others strategize on food security, fight against Covid-19

Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Parliament) Sidie Mohammed Tunis, has been joined by  experts in the sub region and other stakeholders to strategize on how to improve food security and  agricultural production in order to ameliorate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the region. This is the crux of the ECOWAS Parliament Delocalised meeting with the theme " Agricultural Production and Food Security in ECOWAS region under Covid-19 pandemic" scheduled to begin on Tuesday November 10 in Bissau, Guinea Bissau. Speaker Tunis, who led a delegation of members of Parliament for a courtesy visit on the President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Embalo, at the Presidential Villa in Bissau on Monday ahead of Tuesday's opening ceremony, said Guinea Bissau was chosen for the meeting because it is believed to be stable. The Speaker said :  "As you all are aware, Covid-19 has had very negative effects on food production, which is threat...

25 Years After Beijing Declaration, It's time for action, not rhetorics_ECOWAS Speaker

The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mohamed Sidie Tunis has reiterated the need for concrete and deliberate actions on Women Empowerment, 25 years after Beijing Declaration, Speaker Tunis, who was on his way to Liberia for the Delocalised meeting on Women’s Empowerment, made this declaration on Monday 12 April, 2021 at the Mano River Bridge, when he was received by a delegation, consisting of ECOWAS staff and journalists. He said there couldn't have been a better venue for the Delocalised meeting than Liberia. This he said is against the backdrop of Liberia’s serial feats of electing women into prominent political positions. "Liberia is the most suitable country to host the Delocalised meeting on Women Empowerment because it was Liberia that blaised the trail in 2015, with the election of Africa's First Female President, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson. "Few years later, another woman was elected Vice President by Liberians." According to the Speaker, this is...