By Deborah Onyofufeke, Abuja.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday tendered as exhibits his educational documents from Chicago State University in the United States (US) and travel documents to open his defence in the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The educational documents tendered included documents to prove his admission and graduation from the university.
Tinubu’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun tendered all evidence to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) to defend the president’s eligibility to contest the presidential election that was held on February 25.
All documents were admitted by Justice Haruna Tsammani-led’s five-member panel against the objection of PDP and Atiku.
The president tendered his admission letter from the university, travel documents between 2012 and 2021, which were certified on July 3, 2023, by the Nigerian Immigration Service, as well as the report of the Committee on the location of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He also tendered a letter dated February 3, 2003, which the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, wrote to the Consul General of the Embassy of the United States of America, in Nigeria, demanding his criminal record.
He also presented to the court, a reply the US Embassy sent to the NPF on February 4, 2003, which indicated that there was no criminal file against him.
INEC’s Forms EC8A, which represented the polling unit results of the presidential election in Kano State, and Forms EC8D (A), which are the summary of results of the election from all the states of the federation were also tendered to the court.
The court also admitted in evidence, Certified True Copy of an originating summon lawsuit filed on February 28, at the Supreme Court where the Attorneys-General of six states- Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, and Sokoto- seeking to void the outcome of the presidential and disputing Tinubu’s educational qualifications.
The President also tendered in evidence in support of his election victory, six copies of newspaper publications.
*INEC closes defence against Obi, LP’s petition, rejects downloaded blurred results
Meanwhile, INEC yesterday closed its defence after calling one witness out of the three it earlier scheduled to call to testify in the petition filed by the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the 2023 presidential election.
INEC’s lead counsel, Mr Abubakar Mahmoud, informed the PEPC of the closure of its defence after calling one witness and tendering four documents.
The witness, a Deputy Director of ICT at the Commission, Dr Lawrence Bayode, during cross-examination by President Tinubu’s lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), stated that polling unit results contained in Forms EC8A, captured and transmitted to the IReV portal with the aid of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, machines, were not relevant for the collation of results.
Bayode admitted that the electoral body suffered glitches during the presidential election but maintained that the glitches did not in any way affect the conduct of the election, collation of results, and declaration of final results.
On the allegations of blurred result sheets on INEC’S portal, the Deputy Director of Information and Communication said that clear result sheets can still be obtained on request by those in need of them.
He also said he doesn’t know what INEC website Obi and LP downloaded the blurred election results from.
However, Tinubu is set to open his defence today (Wednesday) in the petition filed by the LP and Obi challenging the president’s declaration in the February 25 polls.
Olanipekun told the Court that his client is fully ready to kick-start the defence on July 5 with his witnesses and documents to justify the victory in the presidential election.
