The Presidential Election Petition Court has admitted as exhibits President Bola Tinubu’s documents of attendance at the Chicago State University, the United States.
The court presided by Justice Haruna Tsammani also admitted the admission letter from the institution from Tinubu who opened his defence against the petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
Tinubu also tendered through his lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), his USA visa and Nigerian Immigration Service documents facilitating his several visits to the country between 2011 and 2021.
He further tendered as exhibits a USA embassy letter dated April 4, 2003 which responded to an inquiry over his criminal status in the USA and informed that he had no criminal records.
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The documents were admitted despite objections against their admissibility by counsel to the PDP and Atiku, Chris Uche (SAN).
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not object to admission of all the documents.
Apart from the educational documents, the court further admitted 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 background of Tinubu to stand for the 2023 presidential election.
Further hearing in the petition has been shifted to July 5.
INEC closes defence against Obi, LP
Meanwhile, INEC has closed its defence against the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the petition challenging the February 25 presidential election.
Counsel to INEC, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), announced the conclusion of its case against LP on Tuesday after presenting the commission’s sole witness.
The witness, the Deputy Director of Information Technology (IT), Dr Lawrence Bayode, testified that the commission failed to transmit the results of the presidential election due to technical glitches.
He, however, maintained that the glitches did not affect the collation of the election results.
