Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2023 presidential election, has stated that nothing should prevent the Supreme Court from accepting his new evidence as it prepares to hear appeals seeking to remove President Bola Tinubu from office.
Atiku stated this in a reply on the point of law he filed to counter objections that Tinubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, raised to query the admissibility of documents that were released to him by the Chicago State University, CSU, in the United States of America.
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The former vice president maintained that the documents he is asking the supreme court’s approval to submit would support his claim that Tinubu was not only ineligible to run for office, but also engaged in certificate forgery. The former vice president is contesting the results of the presidential election that was held on February 25.
The academic records that Tinubu received from the CSU on October 2, 2023, are what Atiku is attempting to present to the highest court.
The 32-page documents were released on the orders of Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division, Illinois, United States of America.
The US court had ordered the CSU to release the said documents to Atiku, despite Tinubu’s objection.
However, following Atiku’s request to tender the documents, Tinubu, INEC and the APC raised separate objections wherein they argued that the Supreme Court could not admit the evidence at this stage of the case.
In his response to the objections, Atiku, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, argued that, contrary to the position of the respondents, “there is no such constitutional limit of 180 days on the lower court to hear and determine a presidential election petition, such that can rob this Honourable Court to exercise its power in any manner whatsoever”.
“The parties are agreed that the Constitution is the fons et origo and the grundnorm, and supersedes any other legislation,” he added.
