Uncertainty over Nigeria vote as court bars opposition leader

A ruling that could shuffle the pack of cards in Nigeria's presidential campaign. A federal judge on Thursday nullified the nomination of main opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar two months before a crucial election. The former vice president, who came in second in 2023 and is one of the main challengers to incumbent Bola Tinubu, questioned the timing of the announcement, which came a day after he kicked off his campaign. The timing of this ruling is no coincidence. It is part of a strategy to weaken my support in the North and frustrate a campaign whose message is resonating across the country. The court said the leadership of ADC, the African Democratic Congress, had been unlawfully constituted, therefore invalidating Abubakar's nomination as presidential candidate. The ADC directly accused the ruling APC party of influencing this decision, saying they were spending more time in the courts than on the campaign trail, and vowed to appeal the judgment. It's not the first time Nigeria's judiciary has been accused of interfering in the election process. During the 2023 presidential polls, European observers noted over 1,200 court cases against opposition parties, some of which appeared to be politicized. And earlier this year, a judge ordered the ADC's deregistration for failing to meet constitutional requirements, a decision that was later overturned by an appeals court. Bola Tinubu's APC party on Thursday said it had nothing to do with the latest lawsuit.