The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential elections, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday filed new documents against President Bola Tinubu before the Supreme Court in which he accused the President of forgery and lying under oath, and should therefore be disqualified and removed from office.
Sources told THISDAY last night that the evidence filed by Atiku was the academic records of Tinubu, which were handed over to him by the Chicago State University last Monday following the order of a court in the United States instructing the university to release the academic records as requested by Atiku.
"We have filed the fresh evidence. Tinubu's academic records have been submitted to the apex court. You can approach the Supreme Court for a copy of the process," one of Atiku's lawyers told THISDAY last night.
A media to Atiku, Paul Ibe, said: "Our lawyers will file the new evidence today (Friday) to complement the grounds of appeal filed earlier. I am yet to get any briefing from the legal team, but fresh evidence will be filed on or before 12 midnight of today (Friday), which is the deadline.
"The extra evidence or the new evidence, which has to do with the certificate that Tinubu submitted to INEC, based on the petition, the discovery and deposition, which is what we have been waiting for, will help. And that is not the only ground; the initial filing we made to the Supreme Court was on 35 grounds. The Chicago evidence is just extra evidence in support of the application."
Atiku had requested the documents for use in the Supreme Courts to support his argument that Tinubu forged a certificate he claimed to have obtained from the Chicago University in 1979 and submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 presidential election.
In addition to filing an election petition appeal at the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal which upheld Tinubu's victory, the PDP standard bearer had sought the academic records of the President from the Chicago State University to prove his allegation of forgery against the former Lagos State governor.
Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert had on September 19 granted Atiku's request for the release of Tinubu's academic records but the President challenged the ruling, but his objection that the documents would not be relevant in Atiku's appeal at the Supreme Court was overruled by federal judge Nancy Maldonado, who directed the CSU to release the president's academic records.
Justifying his demand for Tinubu's CSU records at a press briefing on Thursday,, Atiku explained, "We undertook this journey at great cost and for important reasons. The ground rules for legitimate governance in our country need to be upheld, and the reputation of our country is at stake. That affects everyone, Nigerians everywhere."
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He added, "I am a democrat by conviction and a citizen of a country that I love. The issues at stake in this case require us once more to re-dedicate ourselves to both the country and our constitution.
Calling for mass support for his crusade, the PDP candidate said, "In line with this, therefore, I am calling on all well-meaning Nigerians, leaders of thought, our religious leaders, our traditional leaders, our community leaders, our political leaders, and in particular, (ex) Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and (ex) Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP and the leaders of every political party in Nigeria and, indeed, every single person who loves this country, as I do, and who wishes nothing but the best for the country, as I do, to join me in this campaign to enshrine probity, accountability and the basic principles of justice, morality and uprightness in our country and our government."
Atiku's lawyer, Kalu Kalu alleged that the CSU confirmed that Tinubu forged the certificate he presented to INEC.
"Also, the qualifying certificates from Southwest College to Chicago bear a female indicating that the document does not belong to Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
"The CSU admission has a claim that Bola Ahmed Tinubu attended government college, Lagos, and graduated in 1970 when indeed, the school was established in 1974. We were told by the CSU Registrar that the A in CSU stands for Adekunle, but the A in the certificate submitted by Bola Tinubu to INEC has the NYSC certificate as Adekunle," he further claimed.
