President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have concluded their case in the lawsuit filed by the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, contesting the outcome of the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria.
According to the Aro Okeigbo Blog, the closure of their case was announced on Wednesday by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the lawyer representing Tinubu and Shettima. This followed the testimony of the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, who served as their sole witness.
Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the lawyer representing the APC, stated that after carefully assessing the progress of the case, his client was satisfied that they had presented sufficient evidence and therefore did not require any further witnesses. Consequently, he declared the closure of the APC’s case.
During the proceedings, various documents were presented to the tribunal. These included a letter from former Inspector General of Police, Tarfa Balogun, addressed to the US Embassy in Nigeria on February 3, 2003, as well as a letter from the US Embassy dated February 4, 2003. Additionally, educational records from Chicago State University, certified by Jamar C. Orr, Associate General Counsel, Office of Legal Affairs, Chicago State University, Chicago, were submitted as evidence.
Other documents presented included data pages from the international passport indicating Tinubu’s travel history to the US from 2011 to 2023, the Labour Party’s forwarding letter for the submission of membership registration dated April 25, 2022, the LP’s register of members for Anambra State, and a copy of the report of the Committee On The Location of the FCT and Historical Bureau.
Furthermore, Tinubu’s legal team tendered a copy of form EC8D for Kano State regarding the presidential election held on February 25, 2023, an acknowledgement copy of Shettima’s voluntary withdrawal of candidacy from the Borno Central Senatorial District election dated July 6, 2022, the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of SC/CV/501/2023 PDP vs INEC and 3 others delivered on May 26, 2023, as well as copies of page 28 and page 27 of the Nigerian Tribune Newspaper from February 23, 2023.