4th July, 2023
By Wandoo Sombo
President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday afternoon formally opened his defense in a petition filed against his election victory in the February 25 election by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku at the Presidential Election Petition Court, (PEPC).
Counsel to Tinubu, Mr Wole Olanipekin, SAN opened the defence by tendering the Chicago State University educational records of the President.
He tendered the documents in evidence as part of his defence to establish that his client attended and graduated from the American university.
One of the documents was the admission letter offered to Tinubu by the university.
Olanipekun also tendered Tinubu’s US visa documents which indicated that he travelled many times to the United States unhindered between 2011 and 2021.
Also admitted in evidence to debunk allegations of criminality contained in PDP’s petition against Tinubu were documents of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) which cleared him for the US trips.
The court further admitted in evidence a US Embassy letter of April 4, 2003 which was a response to a letter of the Nigerian Police of Feb. 3, 2003 saying the embassy had no criminal records of Tinubu in the US.
Other documents admitted in evidence were an originating summons of a suit instituted at the Supreme Court by the Attorneys- General of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Sokoto states challenging the educational qualification of Tinubu to contest for president and newspaper publications on several suits filed against Tinubu by several groups.
Counsel to the petitioners, Mr Chris Uche, SAN, objected to the admissibility of the documents in evidence saying he would give his reasons for objecting in his final address.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not oppose the admissibility of the documents.
The Chairman of the Court, Justice Haruna Tsammani admitted the documents in evidence and marked them appropriately as exhibits.
After tendering the documents, Olanipekun prayed the court for an adjournment to enable his team prepare for more defence on Wednesday.
Justice Tsammani subsequently adjourned hearing in the petition until Wednesday.
(NAN)