A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fined three petitioners; Praise Ilemona Isaiah, Pastor Paul Isaac Audu and Anongu Moses as well as their counsel for filing a case before it seeking to stop the inauguration of President-elect, Bola Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima over age falsification and citizenship status in the document Tinubu submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The trio who identified themselves as Concerned Citizens, In the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/C5/657/2023, alleged that Tinubu lied on oath in the Form EC9 he submitted to INEC, adding that, Tinubu also falsely declared that he was not a citizen of any other country despite that he was in possession of a Guinean passport.
On Tinubu’s age, they alleged that the President-elect claimed that he was born in 1957, whereas it was discovered that 1952 was his actual date of birth, stressing that Tinubu’s action was in gross violation of Section 117 of the Criminal Code Act as well as Section 156 of the Penal Code Act; praying the court to ban Tinubu from vying for any elective position for the next 10 years.
Issuing a ruling on the matter on Friday, Justice James Omotosho, said the court could not exercise jurisdiction to hear the matter because it relates to a presidential election.
She said only the Court of Appeal has jurisdiction on such matters
She also stated that the case was frivolous and an abuse of the court process, stressing that under section 285 (14) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, only an aspirant could challenge the qualification or nomination of a candidate in an election.
The justice further accused the plaintiffs of wasting judicial time of the court by filing the suit. Adding that it was an attempt to bring Judiciary to ridicule
Omotosho then awarded a cost of N10 million in Tinubu’s favour, N5 million in favour of the APC and another N1 million to be personally paid by counsel for the plaintiffs, to each of the respondents.
(The Punch)
