In court petitions challenging the victory of Bola Tinubu, the APC candidate in the February 25th presidential election, opposition political parties alleged that Kashim Shettima, Tinubu's running mate, violated Section 35 of the Nigerian Electoral Act by accepting the nomination while still an APC candidate for Borno Central Senatorial District.

They argued that Shettima's double nomination should disqualify him from running.

However, Sam Amadi, an associate professor of law, stated in an interview that the Supreme Court has made it clear that double nomination is illegal. He cited the example of Uche Nwosu, who was disqualified as a candidate for the Imo State governorship under the Action Alliance (AA) party in 2020 due to his double nomination. Amadi also noted that if Shettima is found guilty of double nomination, Tinubu would also be affected.

In a video posted by AIT News on YouTube, Amadi stated that "Section 35 of the electoral act makes it clear that it is a crime, it is illegal for somebody to have a double nomination. This is not the first time, we saw it in the Uche Nwosu case where the governorship aspirant in Imo State had dual nominations: AA and APC and the court ruled that all those nominations are voided. ... In Uche Nwosu's case, Supreme Court made it clear that any individual who allows himself to be nominated by more than one political party or have multiple nominations commits illegality under the electoral act.

"You should not be a candidate for A and B party or a candidate for A and B offices of the same political party. That is an illegality, forget the issue of persecution and prison, the key thing here is that it voids both nominations and when the nomination of the vice presidential candidate is void for any matter of illegality or non-qualification, it fatally afflicts the presidential candidate. Arguably this is the most important case and the most consequential if you follow the law in all the cases in the tribunal".

Click on the link below and watch the video starting from 1:09:35 hour mark.

https://www.youtube.com/live/VX7tXaNPX-4?feature=share

Source: YouTube, AIT.

Dear valued readers, kindly share your thoughts on this matter by dropping your comments on the section below.

Content created and supplied by: Ifey_communication (via Opera News )