According to reports, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, a former minister of state for education, filed a lawsuit in court on Friday, September 30.
On Friday, September 30, the Federal High Court was asked to disqualify Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s candidacy for the 2023 presidential election. The lawsuit was filed in court by Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, the immediate past minister of state for education, according to The Cable.
Nwajiuba claimed in his lawsuit that Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, violated electoral laws during the ruling party’s primary election. Through his lawyer, Okere Nnamdi, the former minister told the court that the primary that produced Tinubu as the APC’s candidate was riddled with unfathomable corruption, with one of the aspirants, Rotimi Amaechi (ex-minister of transportation), complaining that most delegates sold their votes. Nwajiuba accompanied his claim with video evidence.
Furthermore, the plaintiff raised the issue of the former Lagos governor’s academic credentials and source of income. Nwajiuba requested that the court rule that Tinubu, “who had previously sworn an affidavit in the INEC nomination form declaring that he had lost his primary and secondary school documents and benefited therefrom, cannot in a later affidavit deny and abandon same facts deposed in the previous affidavit, thus falsely contradicting his academic qualifications.” Tinubu’s lawyer provided copies of the affidavits he signed while running for governor of Lagos state on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) platform.
Part of the suit read:
“That the entire circumstances surrounding the two depositions of the 3rd defendant point to the fact that they are false and misleading and cannot be relied upon.
“That the possession of a higher degree does not substitute the minimum requirement of law, where the minimum academic requirement is manifestly absent by an avowed fact.
“That the possession of a higher education qualification such as a first degree or masters degree is predicated on the minimum educational qualification as provided in the Constitution.”
The plaintiffs asked the court, among other things, to determine “whether the APC is exempt from compliance with section 90(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, having presented the 3rd defendant (Tinubu) as its presidential candidate to the 6th defendant (INEC), and the 6th defendant accepted and published same, being the name of a person whose source of N100m contribution fee for the nomination form and expression of interest form was not verified.” They also want the court to decide “whether the constitutional provision prescribing the academic qualification of candidates and prescribing the minimum qualification of a school certificate or its equivalent has been complied with by the third defendant, who has admitted under oath that he does not possess such minimum qualification prescribed in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.”
The suit also asked the court to disqualify Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, for violating the electoral act.
The APC, PDP, AGF Abubakar Malami, and the Independent National Electoral Commission are also defendants in the case (INEC). The plaintiff asked the court to determine “whether the conduct of the third and fourth defendants (Tinubu and Atiku) and their agents, who by the corrupt inducement of delegates with US Dollars, which being a foreign currency and non-legal tender in Nigeria under the CBN Act, and the possession which requires declaration under the EFCC Act, used the Dollars for inducement of votes in favor of the third and fourth defendants (Tinubu and Atiku)”The votes of such delegates cast in favor of the 3rd and 4th defendants at the 1st and 2nd defendants’ special conventions were illegal, void, and invalid, and thus prevented the 3rd and 4th defendants from benefiting from the proceeds of their own gross illegalities.” After hearing the prayers, the presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, ordered that all relevant court processes and hearing notices be served on all defendants in the case. Furthermore, Justice Ekwo set the case for hearing on Thursday, October 6.