At Presidential Election Tribunal, Atiku, PDP Tender Tinubu’s Academic Records, Guinea Passport, Others

Ayuba Sanusi 

THE  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the 25th February election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Friday tendered what they called academic records and personal particulars of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

Atiku and the PDP, who are challenging Tinubu’s victory in the election, tendered the documents through one of their subpoenaed witnesses, Mike Enahoro-Ebah, who claimed to be a lawyer and human rights activist.

Enahoro-Ebah, who was led in evidence by the petitioners’ lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN), adopted his written deposition filed on 20th June wherein he referred to the documents. 

The witness said he got the documents with the assistance of his lawyer in the United States.

The documents tendered include Mr Tinubu’s Form EC9 (affidavit in support of personal particulars); what they described as a certificate from the Chicago State University, NYSC discharge certificate (which the witness said contained the name: Adekunle); a party membership card, and a certificate of service from Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc.

Also tendered were what the witness described as the academic records of Mr Tinubu from the Chicago State University, what he referred to as the actual certificate issued by the university; an application for admission allegedly made by Tinubu in 1977, a transcript for admission from the South West College, in which the witness claimed Tinubu was referred to in the female gender.

The petitioners also tendered, through Enahoro-Ebah, a document they referred to as a notarized judgment of a United States District Court and a printout of a Guinean passport, which the witness claimed belonged to Mr Tinubu.

The respondents – the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu and the APC – objected to the admissibility of the documents in evidence and promised to adduce their reasons at the point of filing their final written addresses.

The court however admitted the documents and marked them accordingly.

At the conclusion of his evidence-in-chief, INEC’s lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) cross-examined Enahoro-Ebah, during which the witness admitted that he is unhappy that his candidate lost the presidential election.

He claimed that his investigation of Mr Tinubu’s background was not influenced from any quarter and that his lawyer in the US helped him to obtain the documents from the Chicago State University free of charge.

Eighteen-Eleven Media