The Supreme Court has rejected the application filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar against President Bola Tinubu.
In a ruling delivered on Thursday by Justice Inyang Okoro, the apex court rejected Atiku’s plea to introduce a copy of Tinubu’s certificate from the Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States of America (USA) as evidence.
The court held that the constitutionally allowed period for admitting such evidence had lapsed, referring to section 285(5) of the 1999 Constitution, which gave the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) a 180-day lifespan to hear and determine all petitions arising from the presidential election in writing.
The Supreme Court emphasized that since the PEPC, as the court of first instance, had already delivered its verdict, there was no provision of the law allowing the admission of any further evidence at the appeal stage.
The 180-day timeframe set by the Constitution expired on September 17, and the Supreme Court lacked the jurisdiction to admit the document.
“This court cannot do what the trial court is no longer constitutionally permitted to do,” Justice Okoro held, adding that Atiku and the PDP could no longer invoke the provision of Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act.
The Supreme Court that noted the issue of forgery, which Atiku sought to establish through the proposed fresh evidence, was not raised in any paragraph of his appeal.
It held that the appellants no longer had time to amend their case, as the 21-day period for those aggrieved with the election outcome to file a petition had also elapsed.
The court concluded, “It is crystal clear that the additional evidence did not fit into issues for determination in this appeal. Therefore, this application is refused and accordingly dismissed.”
Atiku had requested the Supreme Court to admit the fresh evidence, which he claimed would prove that President Tinubu presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to qualify for the election.
Chief Chris Uche, SAN, Atiku’s lead counsel, argued that despite the document’s not being pleaded, it should be admitted in the interest of justice. He emphasized the weight of the certificate issue and the need for substantial justice to be served.
On the other hand, President Tinubu’s legal team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, urged the court to reject Atiku’s fresh evidence, contending that the necessary conditions precedent for its admission had not been met.
President Tinubu also argued that the deposition by a CSU staff member, attached by Atiku to support his application, was conducted in the chambers of a private legal practitioner in the USA.
INEC, represented by Mr. Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, and the APC, represented by Mr. Akinola Olujimi, SAN, both urged the court to reject Atiku’s plea to introduce the CSU certificate, citing the expired time frame for hearing the petition and asserting that the application lacked merit.
KanyiDaily recalls that the Supreme Court ruled that the absence of election results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal is insufficient grounds for nullifying the 2023 presidential election.
