APC Must Come Clean On Why Tinubu’s Legal Team Watermark Is On Tribunal CTC Copies – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has to explain how the watermark of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) got on the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) judgement.

The PDP submitted that the excuse by the Tinubu Legal Team that it “scanned and watermarked” its copy of the judgment with the inscription after getting a clean copy from the court does not hold water.

The major opposition party in a statement on Monday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba said the watermark is further credence to the widespread public insinuation that the tribunal might have read a pre-determined verdict in favour of APC and President Bola Tinubu.

Recall that there had been insinuations that the tribunal ruling was compromised in favour of President Tinubu due to the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team watermarks found on the copies in circulation on social media.

However, the coordinator of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, Babatunde Ogala (SAN) in a statement on Saturday debunked such insinuations

According to him, the judgment was not compromised, and the watermarks were only applied by the team after they got their own copies of the consolidated judgment from the Court of Appeal.

Ogala explained further that the lawyers for the PDP were present at the registry when they picked up the clean copies of the tribunal ruling, adding that the PDP lawyers were even the first to pick copies of the judgement from the court registry.

But the PDP statement on Monday disagreed with the explanations, tagging it as knee-jack reactions and accused the presidential tribunal of making desperate attempts to prevent further revelations about its activities.

The party charged the Tinubu legal team to tell Nigerians the exact time on Friday they received their CTC and called on the APC to tell Nigerians the truth about the issue as well.

The statement reads: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has meticulously examined the scandalous inscription of the Header of Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) on the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) judgement currently in circulation.

“The knee-jerk admission by the Tinubu Legal Team that it “scanned and watermarked” its copy of the judgment with the inscription, “Tinubu Presidential Legal Team ‘TPLT’ is self-indicting and lends credence to widespread public insinuation of pre-determined manipulation by the APC.

“The rush by the TPLT in admitting that it imprinted on the CTC of the judgment smacks of a desperate attempt to dispel public scrutiny and ward off the possibility of more revelations regarding the issue.

“The PDP and indeed majority of Nigerians are not satisfied with the claims by the Tinubu Legal Team. This is especially as further examination and expert analysis show that the documents are not scanned and that the TPLT inscriptions are not watermarks but computer default header which usually originates from an author of a document.

“The PDP demands that the Tinubu Legal Team should explains how what obviously is a default header on its computer system should be accepted as a watermark.

“The Tinubu Legal Team should also disclose to Nigerians what specific time on Friday, September 8, 2023 they received their CTC; what time specifically was the ‘watermark’ imprinted of the document, the identity of the electronic devise with which the ‘watermark’ was made as well as the PDF used in the said watermarking process for independent analysis.

“The PDP demands that the All Progressives Congress (APC) should come clean on the issue especially given its notoriety for manipulations.”