The Action Alliance has said it will appeal the ruling of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja that dismissed its appeal against the Independent National Electoral Commission, All Progressives Congress and its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The suit sought the disqualification of Tinubu from contesting the 2023 election on the grounds that he forged his Chicago State University certificate and that his claim of attending Government College, Ibadan was false. The party contended that Tinubu was not qualified to contest for the office of the president.
The AA prayed the court for “a declaration that by virtue of Sections 224, 23 and 24 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the constitution of the APC, the office of the president of Nigeria is to be occupied by a man of integrity and impeccable character”.
Earlier in a judgment on December 13, 2022, the trial court held that the suit of the plaintiff was statute-barred. But in an appeal filed on the 21st of December, 2022 and marked: CA/ABJ/CV/ 1475/ 2022, the AA prayed to the court to set aside the judgment of the trial court.
In his argument, Babatunde Ogala SAN on behalf of the second respondent, the APC, said the appellant’s brief of argument was statute-barred and that the appeal was academic.
On February 3, 2023 when the appeal came up for hearing, Julius O. Ishola on behalf of the APC adopted the notice of preliminary objection and second respondent’s brief of argument filed and prayed the court to strike out the appeal for lack of merit.
Reacting to the notice and the brief, counsel for the appellant urged the court to dismiss the objections and allow the appeal.
The Appeal Court in a unanimous judgment agreed with counsels for the 2nd and 3rd respondents and dismissed the appeal for being statute-barred, having been filed more than 22 years after the occurrence of the purported cause of action.
The court also stated that the appellant lacked locus standi to institute the suit and described it as a meddlesome interloper.
Reacting to the judgment on Saturday, the National Chairman of AA, Chief Kenneth Udeze, told one of our correspondents in an interview, “Yes, we are planning to go to the Supreme Court. The party has agreed to meet with our legal team on Monday to look at the judgement critically and see the next option,” he said.
