The Chairman of the Supreme Court panel hearing the appeals against the election of President Bola Tinubu, Justice John Okoro, said on Monday that the Peoples Democratic Party standard bearer in the February presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, must prove the allegation of certificate forgery levelled against the ex-Lagos State governor beyond a reasonable doubt.
Okoro handed down the admonition during the hearing of the election petition appeals filed by Atiku and Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
He stated this following the submission of Atiku’s lead counsel, Chris Uche, SAN, urging the court to admit the fresh evidence brought by the petitioners.
In his bid to nullify Tinubu’s victory and prove the allegation that he was not qualified to contest the presidential poll, Atiku had prayed to an Illinois Chicago district court to order the Chicago State University to release the President’s academic records.
The former vice-president had accused Tinubu of falsifying the CSU diploma of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration awarded in 1979 that he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He demanded a copy of any diploma issued by CSU in 1979, a copy of the diploma the CSU gave to Tinubu in 1979, and copies of diplomas with the same font, seal, signatures, and wording awarded to other students that are similar to what CSU awarded to him in 1979.
Atiku’s application was opposed by Tinubu’s lawyers, citing privacy concerns even as they conceded that only the certificate should be released and not other privileged records.
The seven-man panel led by Okoro after listening to the submissions of the parties involved in the matter said the judgment date would be communicated to them.
The panel led by Okoro said, “This appeal is reserved for judgment until a date to be communicated to the parties.”
The apex court struck out the appeal by the Allied Peoples Movement seeking to nullify the election of the President.
The party had claimed that the placeholder nominated by the president, Ibrahim Masari, was not replaced within 14 days as stipulated by section 33 of the Electoral Act.
The lead counsel for the party, Chukwuma -Machukwu Ume argued that their appeal was not premised on double nomination which the lower court ruled on, insisting that Vice President Kashim Shettima was illegally nominated.
But Okoro asked him if the APM had anything to gain from the matter.
He said, “What will you gain if you win this appeal? There are other appeals that are asking for something substantial. There is nothing to gain but to give us work to do. You are not asking us to put your candidate there as president.”
The APM lawyer applied to withdraw his appeal.
The APC, INEC, Ibrahim Massari, and Tinubu’s counsels did not object.
“Having been withdrawn, the appeal is hereby struck out,” Okoro said.