President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have closed their case in the petitions filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar on Wednesday.
Atiku filed a petition challenging the validity of the presidential election conducted on Saturday, February 25, that declared Tinubu the winner of the election, before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja.
In the petition against INEC, Tinubu, and APC, Atiku alleged to the court that the election was marred by widespread malpractices and non-compliance with statutory provisions for the polls.
Atiku and PDP also accused President Tinubu of falsifying academic records, drug trafficking, and identity scandals. They prayed to the court to order INEC to withdraw President Tinubu’s Certificate of Return.
However, President Tinubu’s legal team, headed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Wole Olanipekun, began its bid to counter both petitioners’ cases on Tuesday.
Olanipekun presented several documents on Tuesday to refute claims of academic record forgery and criminal conviction levelled against the president during proceedings in Atiku’s case.
He also tendered certified true copies of Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University in the US and correspondences between the Nigerian Police Force and the US Embassy in Nigeria.
In reply to the police’s inquiry, the US Consular General in Lagos cleared Tinubu of any criminal conviction or arrest in the US. The letter was dated February 4, 2003.
At the resumed proceedings in Atiku’s case on Wednesday, Olanipekun called the only witness in the case, Micheal Opeyemi Bamidele, a Nigerian senator, who was called to the New York Bar in January 1999.
In his evidence, the witness, Senator Bamidele, said Tinubu’s victory could not be nullified over his forfeiture of $460, 000 to the US government through a court order.
During cross-examination by APC’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, a SAN, Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, said that Tinubu had not been charged with or implicated in any criminal activities by a court in the United States.
“As far as criminal indictment is concerned, Senator Bola Tinubu has a clean bill of health because he was never indicted or convicted by any American court,” Bamidele said.
In testimony on the president’s alleged dual nationality, Bamidele stated that he has known Tinubu for over three decades and that he is a Nigerian citizen by birth.
While being cross-examined by Atiku’s lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, Bamidele said Tinubu did not need to score 25 percent of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
Bamidele stated that the FCT has no special status other than that of Nigeria’s capital city, and he admitted that Tinubu received 19.4 percent of the total votes cast in the FCT during the February election, adding that the president didn’t need to win majority votes in Abuja and Lagos.
At the end of the cross-examination, Olanipekun, who had asked for the witness’ discharge, announced the end of Tinubu’s defence, saying that everything has a beginning and an end.
However, APC, through its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, announced that the third respondent had chosen to rely on the testimony of Tinubu witnesses.
“Having taken a sober reflection of the entire case, we have enough evidence and we are not calling any witnesses; we announce the closure of the case of the third respondent.” Fagbemi said.
The court said the date for adoption of all the processes, preparatory to its final judgment on the case, would be communicated to all the parties.
