Supreme Court dismisses Atiku’s case, says he has no locus standi
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lost his case at the Supreme Court seeking the disqualification of Bola Tinubu as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) along with his vice presidential candidate Kashim Shettima.
However, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) will commence on May 30 hearing in the petitions filed by Atiku and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) against Tinubu’s election victory.
The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Atiku has no locus standi to challenge the double nomination of Shettima by the APC for Senate candidate and vice presidential candidate because it is an internal party affair, which is not justiceable.
The top court upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
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Atiku blasts Keyamo’s lies and ‘scheming’ to get a job in Tinubu’s admin
The Supreme Court judgment came after Atiku blasted Labour and Employment Minister of State Festus Keyamo for being double faced in order to get a job in the administration of Tinubu.
Keyamo, a SAN, stirred a hornet’s nest on Wednesday by saying the position of Minister of State in the federal cabinet is unconstitutional after occupying the post for four years.
Critics argue if Keyamo were sincere he would have turned down the job when he was offered in 2019.
They see his statement as attacking and distancing himself from President Muhammadu Buhari in order to ingratiate himself with Tinubu, who is expected to be sworn into office on May 29.
Atiku warned through PDP spokesman Daniel Bwala that Keyamo is trying to ambush Tinubu but his “desperation” and “scheming” may kill his opportunity.
Keyamo lamented the office of Minister of State is an aberration and unconstitutional, saying most of his colleagues were redundant in the past eight years but lack the courage to speak up.
He read this in his speech at the valedictory session of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, chaired by Buhari to mark the end of the administration.
“He wants to ambush Tinubu to give him a substantive ministerial role, hence his argument that Buhari appointing him as Minister of State is unconstitutional,” Bwala tweeted, per Daily Post.
“That’s exactly how he wanted the role of AGF [Attorney General of the Federation] and went to the NASS [National Assembly] confirmation hearing and was answering in this manner ‘If I become AGF ….’
“It got [Buhari’s] chief of staff mad and they gave him an inconsequential role first under Niger Delta, the substantive Minister then allegedly complained and he was further re-assigned to Labour as ‘Under Secretary’ aka Minister of state. Sources close to Tinubu revealed.
“My take is that desperation and scheming are killers of opportunity.”
