Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, on Friday, admitted as exhibit
President Bola Tinubu’s academic records obtained from the Chicago State University, United States of America.
The five-member court headed by Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents as exhibits, while the legal teams of Tinubu, APC, and INEC argued that the documents were not admissible and promised to give their grounds objection in their final addresses.
The documents were tendered by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who is challenging the outcome of the 25 February presidential election.
Atiku had filed a petition calling the court to overturn Tinubu’s victory.
Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, on 1 March declared Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the race.
But continuing his quest to have Tinubu’s election nullified, Atiku’s lead counsel, Chris Uche, led the 27th witness, Mike Enahoro-Ebah, in evidence before the court on Friday.
At the proceedings, Enahoro-Ebah, a star witness for the petitioner, narrated how he obtained several documents detailing Tinubu’s biodata.
Enahoro-Ebah, who identified himself as a public interest litigator, told the court that his attorney in the US obtained Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University.
He said the university was subpoenaed by a US court to release Tinubu’s academic records.
“I obtained the academic records from Chicago State University purporting to belong to Tinubu with a forwarding letter by my counsel based in Chicago.
“A subpoena was issued to the Chicago State University, which gave out the Academic records. A copy of the actual degree certificate issued by Chicago State University and Tinubu’s admission letter dated 1977 is attached,” Enahoro-Ebah told the court.
He said the degree certificate from Chicago State University bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle”.
Enahoro-Ebah also tendered Tinubu’s transcript from the South West College in the US. He added the transcript, issued in 1977, identified Tinubu as “female.”
The court admitted the documents as exhibits.
In addition, the court admitted a “notarised judgement of criminal forfeiture” of Tinubu’s assets over alleged drug trafficking in the US.
The court further admitted a photocopy of Tinubu’s purported Guinean citizenship passport, which Enahoro-Ebah tendered.
Enahoro-Ebah also said he obtained Tinubu’s biodata from INEC, which was tendered before the five-member panel of the court
A certified true copy of Tinubu’s nomination form as flagbearer of the APC for the presidential election was presented as an exhibit.
The form was accompanied by a cover letter from INEC and a payment receipt for the certification.
The witness equally presented a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate bearing “Tinubu Bola Adekunle”Objections
In their responses to the various documents, the respondents’ lawyers objected to the admissibility of Tinubu’s records from both the US and Nigeria.
INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud, said reasons for his objection to the admissibility of the documents would be advanced at the close of arguments in the case.
Tinubu’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun and APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, urged the court not to admit the documents in evidence.
But no reasons were stated as they promised to articulate their objection later.
As of the time of filing this report, the court stood down Enahoro-Ebah’s cross-examination until 3:00 p.m. Friday.
Enahoro-Ebah may be Atiku’s last witness in the trial that has lasted three weeks.
Atiku is expected to close his case against Tinubu on Friday after calling 27 witnesses and tendering tons of electoral documents as evidence before the court.
After that, Tinubu and other respondents in the suit are expected to commence their defence on 30 June.
Atiku is also challenging Tinubu’s victory because the president “was fined $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in case no:93C 4483″ between the United States of America and Bola Tinubu.
After calling 27 witnesses and tendering tons of electoral documents, Atiku , on Friday, closed his case at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, which he prayed to upturn President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 25 February poll.
Citing the prehearing session report of the court and provisions of the Electoral Act, Uche informed the court that he had come to the end of Atiku’s suit challenging Tinubu’s victory.
Referring to Enahoro-Ebah, Uche told the court, “My Lords, this will be our last witness in this case. Pursuant to the prehearing report and the Electoral Act, we apply to close the case for the petitioners.”
After the close of Atiku’s case, the respondents – INEC, APC and Tinubu – are expected to open their defence soon.
The five-member panel of the court headed by Haruna Tsammani had scheduled 30 June for respondents to commence their defence.
But after Atiku concluded his case, a lawyer in INEC’s legal team, Kemi Pinheiro, urged the court to allow the electoral body to open its defence on 3 July.
Toeing Pinheiro’s line, Olanipekun and Fagbemi prayed the court to allow them to open their clients’ (Tinubu and APC)’s suits after the “Sallah break.”
The Sallah break meant to mark Eid-el-Kabir, an Islamic celebration, is expected to commence from 28 to 30 June.
After listening to the lawyers, the court granted the request and adjourned the suit until 3 July for defence.
PT
