*Atiku Presents Tinubu’s CSU Documents; Supreme Court Queries Validity
*Supreme Court Reserves Judgement on Atiku, Obi Appeals Against Tinubu
*Apex Court Dismisses APM Appeal Against Tinubu’s Election Victory
*Obi Alleges Irregularities, Seeks Supreme Court Judgement
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Documents about President Tinubu’s academic records released by Chicago State University (CSU) came under scrutiny by the Supreme Court yesterday.
The said documents were presented by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023 poll, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who wants the apex court to void the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for alleged forgery.
Before reserving judgement in the appeals filed by Atiku and the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, against Tinubu, the Supreme Court raised curious questions and discrepancies in the CSU documents.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Tinubu the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
Atiku and Obi separately filed appeals against the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) which dismissed their petitions against INEC’s declaration of Tinubu as winner of the election.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, one of the seven-member panel of justices headed by Justice Inyang Okoro, told Atiku’s lead counsel, Chris Uche (SAN) that the deposition which he sought to tender as evidence was done in the chamber of the lawyer to Atiku and not in the court as required by law.
Justice Agim said, “I expected the college (CSU) to write disclaiming the documents in dispute. Does a stenographer have the legal authority to administer an oath? We are dealing with a matter that touches on the national interest of this country.”
In his response, Uche explained that the legal system in the United States is different from that of the English legal system which is practiced in Nigeria and confirmed that the depositions were made in the law chambers of Atiku’s American lawyer, with representation by Tinubu’s American lawyers.
He insisted that there was no conflict or dispute over the legality of the depositions.
Tinubu, through his team of lawyers, raised an objection to the admissibility of the depositions, saying such depositions have to be adopted by the individual that deposed to them before they can be admitted as evidence before a court.
In response, Uche argued that such is not the practice in foreign proceedings and clarified that the depositions were not based on a court order to clarify the discrepancies observed in the communication by the Chicago State University.
The presiding justice, Justice Okoro observed that the issue of conflicting documents from the same institution is a serious criminal act which ought to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
After hearing the appellants’ motion to admit fresh evidence and the objections by the respondents, the court directed parties to adopt their briefs of arguments on the substantive appeal and thereafter reserved judgement till a date that would be communicated to the parties.
In the same vein, Obi, who came third in the election, had in his 51 grounds of appeal, maintained that the PEPC panel erred in law and thereby reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed his petition.
He alleged that the panel wrongly evaluated the proof of evidence he adduced before it and occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice when it held that he did not specify polling units where irregularities occurred during the election.
Obi and the LP further faulted the PEPC for dismissing their case on the premise that they did not specify the figures of votes or scores that were allegedly suppressed or inflated in favour of President Tinubu and the APC.
The seven-man panel led by Okoro after listening to the submissions of the parties involved in the matter said the judgment date would be communicated to them.
The panel led by Okoro said, “This appeal is reserved for judgment until a date to be communicated to the parties.”
The apex court struck out the appeal by the Allied Peoples Movement seeking to nullify the election of the President.
The party had claimed that the placeholder nominated by the president, Ibrahim Masari, was not replaced within 14 days as stipulated by section 33 of the Electoral Act.
The lead counsel for the party, Chukwuma -Machukwu Ume argued that their appeal was not premised on double nomination which the lower court ruled on, insisting that Vice President Kashim Shettima was illegally nominated.
But Okoro asked him if the APM had anything to gain from the matter.
He said, “What will you gain if you win this appeal? There are other appeals that are asking for something substantial. There is nothing to gain but to give us work to do. You are not asking us to put your candidate there as president.”
The APM lawyer applied to withdraw his appeal.
The APC, INEC, Ibrahim Massari, and Tinubu’s counsels did not object.
“Having been withdrawn, the appeal is hereby struck out,” Okoro said.
During the hearing of the petition, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) who led the legal team of Atiku and PDP informed the court of an interlocutory application seeking the leave of the court to present fresh evidence in the appeal.
The fresh evidence Atiku sought to tender are the academic records of Tinubu, which were handed over to him by the Chicago State University (CSU) on October 2, 2023.
The 32-page document was released to Atiku on the orders of Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division, Illinois, United States of America despite Tinubu’s objection because the court was convinced that it would help Atiku establish his allegation of forgery and lying on oath against Tinubu.
Also, yesterday, the court dismissed the appeal brought before it by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) delivered on September 6.
The court dismissed the appeal following an application for its withdrawal by APM’s lead counsel, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN).
APM had argued that Tinubu was not qualified to contest the February 25 presidential election having violated the provisions of Section 142 (1) of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
The party also prayed for a declaration that the return of Tinubu by the INEC as the president-elect is null, void of no legal effect whatsoever.
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