At the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, where they are challenging the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election, the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, presented their case on Tuesday.
The opposition party called its first witness and presented evidence, which included a court ruling from a previous forfeiture case involving Tinubu from the US.
Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), the attorney representing Peter Obi and the Labour Party, claimed that documents one through four, as well as the receipts offered, were proof that Kashim Shettima, the vice president, accepted his candidacy as the APC’s vice presidential candidate.
Lawrence Nwakaeti, a lawyer who testified, admitted that he was deposed on March 20 for the witness statement.
Nwakaeti’s deposition contained documents that included information about the claimed $460,000 forfeiture by Tinubu to the US authorities.
The LP and Obi are asking the court to overturn Tinubu’s victory on a number of grounds, including the fact that Tinubu “at the time of the election was not qualified to contest for election to the office of President as he was fined the sum of $460,000 for an offense involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking, imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No. 93C 4483.”
During the cross-examination, the witness acknowledged that the judgment was not registered in Nigeria while responding to queries.
He also acknowledged that the verdict was not supported by a certificate from a US Consulate in America or Nigeria.
On the other hand, he insisted that “the judgment speaks for itself.”
Nevertheless, the APC’s legal representative, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), questioned him, saying, “As a lawyer, are you aware that these documents are not registered in Nigeria and that there is no certificate attached to the document from the US?” Lawrence responded by saying there are certificates.
Additionally, he claimed to be unaware of a legal attaché’s formal clearance report from the American Embassy dated February 4, 2003, about the purported indictment and forfeiture.
The witness refused to provide Fagbemi with a copy of the charges brought against Tinubu, claiming instead that the forfeiture was the result of civil processes.
On Tuesday, the panel heard a petition from the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, that also contested Tinubu’s election.
The PDP submitted copies of election results sheets, printouts of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, and records of the number of permanent voter cards that were collected for the February 25 presidential election to the PEPC through its attorney, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN).
The panel acknowledged the records, which covered all 36 of the federation’s states as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
The five-member court panel, presided over by Justice Harunna Tsammani, moved the next hearing on the case to today (Wednesday) at 2 p.m., following the admission of the papers.
