In a significant development, the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja admitted a judgment from a United States District Court that reportedly indicted Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a prominent political figure, and ordered the forfeiture of $460,000 in drug-related offenses.
The judgment, a certified true copy, was presented by witness Barrister Lawrence Uchechukwu Nnana Nwakaeti at the start of the hearing for a petition filed by Peter Gregory Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), challenging Tinubu's election.
Led by Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the witness submitted the US court judgment as part of the requests made by Obi and the Labour Party to nullify and set aside Tinubu's declaration as the winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
However, Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) raised objections to the admission of the judgment but chose to reserve their objections for the final address stage.
During cross-examination by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, representing President Tinubu, the witness acknowledged that the judgment was not registered in Nigeria.
Additionally, the witness admitted that there was no certificate from any Consular in Nigeria or America supporting the judgment, but he maintained that "the judgment speaks for itself." He claimed to have personally read the judgment in its entirety during a visit to the US and expressed surprise if no mention of the $460,000 forfeiture was made.
Furthermore, under cross-examination by Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN, the counsel for the APC, the witness stated that the American court judgment did not have a certificate issued by any American Police Officer. When asked to produce a copy of the charges against Tinubu, the witness admitted not having one but insisted that the indictment and forfeiture stemmed from civil proceedings.
In other developments, the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, has postponed further hearing in the petition until May 31, allowing both parties time to prepare their cases.