The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) has withdrawn its appeal, filed at the Supreme Court to challenge President Bola Tinubu’s election victory.
The party, represented by its legal team led by Mr. Chukwuma Machukwu Ume, SAN, withdrew the appeal shortly after it was called up for hearing.
A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, criticized the APM for filing an appeal it deemed baseless. The panel questioned what the APM hoped to achieve with the appeal, considering it only sought the apex court to “state the law.”
Justice Okoro expressed the panel’s frustration, stating, “If we are idle, then maybe we will state the law. If there is nothing for you to gain from an appeal, you don’t just come to court for interpretation. If, for instance, you win a case, there must be something to be gained from the victory. We have read your appeal; there is absolutely nothing in it. You are not asking for your candidate to be declared the winner or anything of such; all you want is for the President to be removed. If we remove the President, then what next? There are two other appeals here that are asking for something substantial.”
Justice Emmanuel Agim, another member of the panel, pointed out that the issues raised by the APM in its appeal had previously been decided by the Supreme Court. He questioned the APM’s lawyer about the appeal, asking, “What you are asking us is to overrule ourselves. Did you not read our decision on the issue of double nomination?”
In response to the panel’s position, Mr. Machukwu Ume, SAN, withdrew the appeal, and it was subsequently struck out.
The APM’s 10 grounds of appeal had maintained its position that Tinubu was not eligible to participate in the presidential poll held on February 25, citing the double nomination of Tinubu’s running mate and Vice President, Kashim Shettima, by the All Progressives Congress (APC) for different positions related to the 2023 general elections.