The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has admitted in evidence documents tendered by the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, to defend his petition against President Bola Tinubu.
The Labour party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, today, called his first witness to testify before the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja.
Obi has alleged that the presidential election held on February 25, was rigged in favour of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Obi’s first witness, Mr. Lawrence Nwakaeti, who told the court that he is from hiala in Anambra state, identified a document relating to a court proceeding in the United States of America, USA, pertaining to Tinubu’s alleged indictment in a drug-related-case.
Part of the documents deposed to by Nwakaeti referred to the alleged $460,000 forfeiture by Tinubu to the government of the United States.
One of the grounds on which the LP and Obi are praying for the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory is that the president, Tinubu “at the time of the election was not qualified to contest for election to the office of President as he was fined the sum of $460,000 for an offence involving dishonesty, namely narcotics trafficking imposed by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483.”
On their part, both President Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, said they were vehemently opposed to the admissibility of the document.
Tinubu and the APC said they would however reserve their reasons for opposing the document, in their final briefs of argument.
Consequently, Justice Haruna Tsammani-led’s five-member panel admitted the document in evidence and marked it as Exhibit PA- 5.