Yesterday, the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja admitted the educational documents of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from Chicago State University as exhibits in the ongoing petition filed against his election by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku.
The documents presented by Tinubu’s counsel aimed to establish his attendance and graduation from the American university, including his admission letter. Additionally, Tinubu submitted his US Visa documents, demonstrating his regular visits to the United States between 2011 and 2021.
To counter allegations of criminality raised in the petition, Tinubu also provided the court with documents from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) that cleared him for these trips. The court admitted these documents, despite objections from the PDP and Atiku.
Furthermore, the court admitted the United States of America’s Embassy letter dated April 4, 2003, which responded to a Nigerian Police letter dated February 3, 2003. The Nigerian Police had claimed that the Embassy had no criminal records of Tinubu in the USA.
Notably, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the 1st and 3rd respondents in the petition, did not object to the admission of the documents.
In addition to the educational documents, the court also admitted an originating summons of a suit filed at the Supreme Court by the attorneys-general of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, and Sokoto states, challenging Tinubu’s educational background for the 2023 presidential election. Various newspaper publications on suits filed against Tinubu by different groups were also submitted as exhibits.
Meanwhile, on July 5, President Tinubu will commence his defense in the Presidential Election Petition Court against a petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, contesting his victory in the February 25 presidential election.
The decision to begin the defense comes after INEC’s surprising move to terminate its own defense in Obi’s petition, having called only one witness and tendered four documents. Tinubu’s lawyer confirmed his client’s readiness to present witnesses and documents to justify his victory in the presidential election.
During the proceedings, INEC’s witness, Dr. Lawrence Bayode, acknowledged that the electoral body encountered glitches during the presidential election. However, he maintained that these glitches did not impact the conduct of the election, result collation, or the declaration of final results.
Regarding the allegations of blurred result sheets on INEC’s portal, the deputy director of Information and Communication stated that clear result sheets could still be obtained upon request for those in need of them.
