Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, has filed new documents against President Bola Tinubu before the Supreme Court in which he accused the President of forgery and lying under oath, and should therefore be disqualified and removed from office.
Evidence filed by the former vice president, according to Punch, was the academic records of Tinubu, which were handed over to him by the Chicago State University on Monday following the order of an Illinois court in the United States of America instructing the institution to release the academic records as requested by Atiku.
Atiku had requested the documents for use in Nigerian courts to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from the CSU in 1979 and submitted to the country’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, for the 2023 presidential election.
In an interview with Punch on Friday, one of Atiku’s lawyers, who pleaded anonymity, said Tinubu’s academic records had been submitted to the Supreme court.
“We have filed (the fresh evidence) but I do not have a copy (of the filing). You can approach the Supreme Court for a copy of the process,” the lawyer said.
But Atiku’s lead counsel at the tribunal, Chris Uche, said the process was being worked on.
“I am sure they are working on it. I will get back if I have any information on it” he said.
A media consultant to the former vice-president, Paul Ibe, confirmed to one of our correspondents on Friday that the lawyers would file the fresh evidence on Friday to complement the grounds of appeal filed earlier.
“I am yet to get any briefing from the legal team, but it (fresh evidence) will be filed on or before 12 midnight of today (Friday), which is the deadline,” he further said.
Asked about the specific prayers of the PDP candidate on account of the fresh evidence, Ibe added, “The extra evidence or the new evidence, which has to do with the certificate that Tinubu submitted to INEC, based on the petition, the discovery and deposition, which is what we have been waiting for, will help. And that is not the only ground; the initial filing we made to the Supreme Court was on 35 grounds.
“The Chicago evidence is just extra evidence in support of the application.”