President Bola Tinubu was not disqualified by the $460,000 he forfeited to US authorities, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has ruled.
Therefore, Mr Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima were qualified to have contested the last presidential election.
The court held that Tinubu was not disqualified by the forfeiture to a United States court following a civil forfeiture proceeding.
In a judgment on Wednesday in the petition by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP), the court held that the forfeiture to the US court did not qualify as a fine for fraud or dishonesty provided in Section 137(1)(d) of the Constitution.
The court restated its decision in the petition by the APM that Shettima engaged in the double nomination and was not disqualified from contesting the election. It added that the petitioners evidently failed to prove that the US court case was in respect of a civil case, not a criminal case.
It added that even if it was to be a criminal case, Section 137(1)(e) of the Constitution, such conviction or fine must be within 10 years for such person to be disqualified.
The court ruled that the petitioners evidently failed to prove their case that Tinubu was disqualified by virtue of the decision of the US court, adding that Obi and the LP did not comply with the requirement of Section 249(1) and (2) of the Evidence Act in proving conviction outside the country.
