Tinubu replies Atiku in S’Court, silent on Chicago certificate

…Says PDP candidate’s appeal neither has legs nor wings

…Dramatic proceedings expected

…Apex court yet to fix date

BY ANDREW OROLUA

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal filed the Presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for being vague and lacking in merit.

Abubakar, widely known simply as Atiku, had approached the highest court in the land with fresh evidence alleging that Tinubu, who was declared winner of the 25 February, 2023 presidential election, was not eligible to run for President due to certificate forgery, perjury and related issues.

Firing back now, Tinubu told the apex court that Atiku’s petition against his (Tinubu’s election), which was dismissed by lower court, was a mere blockbuster with thrilling suspense and hide-and-seek.

Interestingly, a content analysis of Tinubu’s petition showed that it was completely silent on the fresh evidence procured by Atiku from Chicago State University (CSU) in which it was claimed that the President forged his certificate from the institution, as well as other documents alleging that Tinubu, the man, was a female of non-Nigerian nationality.

The development may have set the stage for explosive proceedings in the apex court when they kick off, as the CSU issue is the taproot of Atiku’s appeal.

Atiku said that Tinubu presented these allegedly false personal and academic particulars, under oath, to electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), upon which the latter cleared him to contest the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku and PDP’s resort to the Supreme Court is to challenge the 6 September judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which had thrown out his (Atiku’s) petition against Tinubu’s election.

Part of the grounds which Tinubu canvassed before the apex court for it to dismiss Atiku’s appeal is that it is irritating, vague, unwarranted and has no known focus or destination.

Tinubu, in his brief of arguments filed by Wole Olanipekun (SAN), on his behalf, specifically claimed that the case of the former Vice President has no legs to stand upon and as well has no wings to fly to the direction being sought by the PDP presidential flagbearer.

President Tinubu said he defeated Atiku and PDP in virtually all the states of the federation in the election, prompting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare him winner after the lawful collations of the election results in the presence of agents of the appellant.

The President further faulted the entire allegations of malpractices, noncompliance with electoral laws and non-qualifications raised against him by Atiku, stating that the lower court did not find merits in any of the allegations, hence they were dismissed.

He also challenged the competence of Atiku’s petition, insisting that what the PDP presidential candidate dressed as statements of facts were mere hearsay with no probate values.

Tinubu asserted that while Atiku claimed to have won the majority of the lawful votes cast in the election, he never gave the figure he scored in the poll.

He claimed that what Atiku termed an expert report, was allegedly a mere worthless paper having been produced outside the period of the time stipulated by law, making it inadmissible by any court of law.

Tinubu drew the attention of the Supreme Court to the admission of Atiku’s witnesses that the election was free and fair except for the inability of INEC to transmit the results electronically as earlier promised.

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The President insisted that the non-transmission of election results electronically did not violate any law because the decision to use the electronic system was just a promise by the electoral body.

He said that the electoral umpire was at liberty to adopt any mode of transmission of election results, and it adopted manual transmission.

At the time of this report, the Supreme Court has not fixed a date for the hearing of the appeal marked SC/CS/935/2023.

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