ABUJA, Nigeria — The Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, has admitted a judgment from a United States District Court as evidence.
This judgement reportedly indicted President Bola Tinubu, and ordered him to forfeit $460,000 found to be proceeds of drug trafficking.
Barrister Lawrence Nwakaeti presented the certified true copy of the US judgement during a hearing on a petition filed by the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, challenging Tinubu’s election.
Jibrin Okutepa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, led the witness in submitting the court’s judgment as part of Obi and the Labour Party’s efforts to nullify and set aside Tinubu’s declaration as winner of the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.
Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated that they have objections to the admission of the judgement, but they have chosen to reserve their objections until the final address stage.
Under cross-examination by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, who represented President Tinubu, the witness admitted that the judgement was not registered in Nigeria.
He also acknowledged that there was no certificate from any Consular in Nigeria or America in support of the judgement but stated that “the judgement speaks for itself”.
The case will continue to be heard by the Presiding Justice of the Court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, on May 31, 2023.
