PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has asked the Supreme Court to reject the application by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar seeking to introduce fresh evidence in his appeal of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
Abubakar – the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party – PDP, in the 2023 general elections and his party had filed a petition challenging the outcome of the presidential election which was held on February 25, 2023.
The PDP Presidential candidate then requested the US court for the northern district of Illinois to compel Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s academic records, claiming that the President’s academic records were fraught with discrepancies and forgeries. His request was granted.
Tinubu, in an apparent response to Atiku’s appeal however, said the allegation of certificate forgery was not introduced in Abubakar’s petition at the tribunal.
According to the President, the tribunal was right to strike out some paragraphs of the petitioners’ replies wherein they tried to introduce new issues – one of which is certificate forgery.
He further said that Atiku’s application which was granted at the US court was alien to the pending appeal before the Supreme Court and does not arise from the record or the judgment of the tribunal.
Atiku and the PDP had filed a petition challenging the outcome of the presidential election which was held on February 25, 2023.