By Ayo Yusuf
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday opened his defense against Peter Obi’s suit challenging his victory at the February 25 presidential election by pointing out that Mr. Peter Obi was not even a member of the Labour Party at the time of the election.
The lawyers to President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima tendered a copy of the Labour Party (LP) membership register for Anambra State where Mr Obi’s name was conspicuously missing as proof of their claim that Peter Obi was not a registered member of the party.
According to the respondents therefore, since he was not a member of the Labour Party at the time of the last presidential election, Mr. Obi was not qualified to have contested the election on the party’s platform.
Their lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) tendered the document along with LP’s letter, dated April 25, 2022 forwarding the membership register to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The documents were among the 18 documents tendered by Olanipekun at the commencement of the defence of Tinubu and Shettma in the petition by Obi and the LP before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) chaired by Haruna Tsammani.
Mr Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), also presented Mr Tinubu’s academic records from the Chicago State University in the United States of America.
In furtherance of the president’s case, the lawyer tendered certified true copies of correspondences between the Nigeria Police Force and the US Embassy in Nigeria concerning alleged criminal records of Mr Tinubu in the US over drug trafficking.
The US consulate had written to the then Inspector-General of Police, Tafa Balogun, now deceased, clearing Mr Tinubu of any criminal conviction or arrest in the US. The letter was dated 4 February, 2003.
Other vital documents also tendered by the president’s camp included: data page of Mr Tinubu’s Nigerian passports issued on 2 February, 2011 and 20 November 2019; visa to the US issued on 4 February 2011 and acknowledgement copy of Kashim Shettima’s notice of voluntary withdrawal of candidacy from Borno Central Senatorial District election dated 6 February, 2023.
Although Mr Obi’s lawyer, Livy Uzoukwu, a SAN, objected to the admissibility of the documents, INEC and the APC lawyers consented to the court’s admissibility of the documents.
Mr Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the disputed poll, had filed his petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja, accusing the electoral commission, INEC, of rigging the election in favour of Mr Tinubu.
He also accused Mr Tinubu, who won the election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), of fraudulent academic records and drug trafficking, amongst other issues.
Mr Obi came third in the February presidential election with 6,101,533 votes.
