Tribunal: Tinubu Calls Opeyemi Bamidele As First Witness, Presents 18 More Documents

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday called the Majority Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, as his first witness in the suit challenging his victory before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), which was instituted by the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi.

Tinubu, through his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), called on Senator Bamidele to identify the documents presented before the court.

In total, Tinubu presented 18 documents, which were adopted by the tribunal in defence of the suit challenging the outcome of the February 25 election in which he was declared the winner.

The documents include a letter from former Inspector General of Police, Tarfa Balogun to the US Embassy in Nigeria dated February 3, 2003; a letter from the US Embassy dated February 4, 2003; and a bundle of Tinubu’s educational records from Chicago State University certified by Jamar C. Orr, Associate General Counsel, Office of Legal Affairs, Chicago State University, Chicago.

Other documents are data pages of international passports showing travels to the US from 2011 to 2023, the Labour Party’s (LP) forwarding letter for the submission of membership registration dated April 25, 2022, the LP’s register of members for Anambra State, and a copy of the report of the Committee On The Location of the FCT and Historical Bureau.

Tinubu’s also tendered a copy of Form EC8D for Kano State in respect of the presidential election of February 25, 2023; an acknowledgement copy of Shettima’s voluntary withdrawal of candidacy from the Borno Central Senatorial District election dated July 6, 2022; the judgment of the Supreme Court in SC/CV/501/2023 PDP vs. INEC and 3 others delivered on May 26, 2023; a copy of page 28 of the Nigerian Tribune Newspaper of 23rd February, 2023; and a copy of page 27 of the Nigerian Tribune Newspaper of February, 2023.

The Labour Party’s lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN), objected to the admissibility of the documents, but the court admitted them and marked them as Exhibits RA17 and RA18.