Tribunal Correct On APM’s Pre-Election Case Says Clarke SAN
Senior Advocate of Nigeria and elder statesman, Chief Robert Clarke, has stated that the verdict of the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel of the Presidential Petition Election Tribunal on the Allied Peoples Movement’s petition challenging the qualification of Vice President Kashim Shettima was correct.
The tribunal dismissed the petition on Wednesday, stating that it was a pre-election matter that should have been challenged before the presidential election’s conduct.
“The issue of qualification or disqualification is a constitutional one. The issue of disqualification or qualification is a pre-election matter. It must be determined before the election’s conduct. This court has no jurisdiction to hear the matter, and even if it does, it is statutorily barred because it is a pre-election matter,” Tsammani said.
Reacting to the dismissal of the matter while speaking as a guest on the Arise News TV program, Clarke said it was evident that the case brought by the APM to disqualify Shettima was not within the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
The elder statesman, however, stated that the petitioners have the right to seek redress in the Supreme Court, emphasizing, “The Constitution only allows the Tribunal to examine the conduct of an election and not matters that are not part of the election.
“But, what I’m saying is that there are two sides to the coin. The litigants have received the tribunal’s judgment but can still go to the Supreme Court, whether the matter is a pre-election matter or not.”
“The tribunal is correct. I have no hesitation in saying I accept the tribunal’s verdict. By virtue of the provisions of our law and our constitution, either of the parties may wish to apply,” Clarke added.
