[JUST IN] Qualification Suit: Buhari Wins At Appeal Court

The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday dismissed a suit challenging the qualification of President Muhammadu Buhari to contest the 2019 general election.

While throwing out the suit, the three-man panel of the court, led by Justice Atinuke Akomolafe-Wilson, agreed with counsel to the President and the All Progressive Congress (APC) that the suit was statute barred.

According to the Justices, the suit was not filed within the mandatory period stipulated by the law for a pre-election matter to be filed.

Kalu Kalu, Labaran Ismail and Hassy El-Kuris, the three applicants in the suit, had asked the appellate court to set aside the decision of Abuja Division of the Federal High Court not to hear the they filed to challenge the qualification of President Buhari to contest in the 2019 general election.

The applicants had argued that President Buhari was not educationally qualified to participate in the presidential poll.

They argued that the President failed to attach his certificates to his form CF001 submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for clearance to contest the presidential poll.

However, the application failed at the lower court on the grounds that the question regarding the certificate of a candidate was a pre-election matter.

The judge, therefore, threw out the suit for lacking in merit.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the position of the lower court.