The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed the SC/CV/501/2023 appeal, which seeks to remove Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima;which has been slated to hold on May 26.

The PDP claimed that the APC and Tinubu's nomination of Shettima as a vice presidential candidate for the election violated Sections 29(1), 33, 35, and 84(1) and (2) of the Electoral Act, 2022, as modified.

It told the court that there was indeed evidence to show that Shettima was nominated twice, once for vice president and once for the Borno Central senatorial seat, which the PDP claimed was illegal.

Apart from requesting the court to annul Tinubu and Shettima's candidacy, the appellant also requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, remove their names from the list of nominated or sponsored candidates that was eligible to run in the presidential election.

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However, after the parties adopted their last briefs of argument, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, presided by Justice Inyang Okoro, approved the case for judgment.

While the PDP, through its lawyer, Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, sought the court to maintain its case by overturning the Court of Appeal's decision, Tinubu and the APC's attorney, Mr. Babatunde Ogala, SAN, asked for the petition to be dismissed on the grounds that it was frivolous.Furthermore, the respondents asserted that the case had been status barred due to the running out of the time limit for hearing and deciding such pre-election case.
INEC, for its part, indicated through its counsel, Mr. Adebiyi Adetosoye, that it supported Tinubu and the APC's demand that the appeal be dismissed with heavy costs.

Furthermore, all of the respondents questioned the PDP's locus-standi (legal standing) to bring the action, as well as the court's jurisdiction to get involved in the problem of nominating a candidate for an election, which they claimed was bordering on a political party's domestic affairs.The Supreme Court delayed the matter for a ruling after hearing from all parties.
On January 13, a Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the petition on the grounds that the PDP lacked standing to file an action against Tinubu's candidacy as it would be recalled.
Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled that the suit violated the principle of estoppel, stating that the appointment of Shettima had already been decided in another court of competent jurisdiction.