Certificate Controversy: Tinubu asks Supreme Court to reject Atiku’s new evidence

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Supreme Court to reject the application by Atiku Abubakar seeking to introduce fresh evidence in his appeal of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

Abubakar, who was the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general elections, had alleged that President Tinubu’s academic records were fraught with discrepancies and forgeries.

His request for the US court for the northern district of Illinois to compel Chicago State University to release Tinubu’s academic records was granted.

The former Vice President is now seeking to introduce these records at the apex court.

In a response to the main appeal however, President Tinubu said the allegation of certificate forgery was not introduced in Abubakar’s petition at the tribunal.

He said the tribunal was right to strike out some paragraphs of the petitioners’ replies wherein they tried to introduce new issues (including that of certificate forgery) which were not contained in the main petition.

President Tinubu said 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.

The president added that the entire appeal lacks merit and should be dismissed.

Atiku and the PDP had filed a petition challenging the outcome of the presidential election which was held on February 25, 2023.

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, in its judgment on September 6, however, held that Atiku failed to prove all the allegations in his petition.

The PDP candidate subsequently filed an appeal before the apex court on September 18, 2023.

No date has been fixed for hearing the appeal at the Supreme Court.