The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Tuesday accepted as evidence a United States of America (USA) District Court decision that purportedly charged Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and ordered the forfeiture of $460,000 for drug-related offenses.
A witness, Barrister Lawrence Uchechukwu Nnana Nwakaeti, presented a certified true copy of the ruling at the start of the hearing on a petition filed by Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, opposing Tinubu’s victory.
The witness, who was led in testimony by Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, presented the Court’s ruling as part of demands by Obi and the Labour Party to have Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, declared invalid and set aside.
However, Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that they will reserve their objections for the final address stage and that they have issues to the admission of the ruling.
The witness acknowledged that the ruling was not recorded in Nigeria while being questioned in cross-examination by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, who represented President Tinubu.
The Anambra-based attorney who served as Obi’s first witness acknowledged that the ruling was not supported by a certificate from a Nigerian or American consulate, but claimed that “the judgment speaks for itself.”
He said he had gone to the US, that he had read the entire ruling, and that he would be amazed if the $460,000 forfeiture wasn’t included.
The witness claimed that the American court ruling lacked a certificate signed by any American police officer while being questioned by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, lawyer for the APC.
He denied being aware of a formal clearance report from the American Embassy’s legal attache dated February 4, 2003, regarding the alleged indictment and forfeiture.
The witness acknowledged not possessing a copy of the accusations against Tinubu when Fagbemi SAN requested it, but said that the indictment and forfeiture were the result of civil processes.
Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, the court’s presiding justice, has postponed further hearing on the case until May 31.
