Rattled Tinubu opposes Atiku exposing his age, education, background
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Bola Tinubu got rattled and opposed at the weekend the tendering of his biodata by Atiku Abubakar which contains personal information he supplied the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as qualification to run for President.
The INEC produced form EC9 which contains Tinubu’s biodata, pursuant to the subpoena issued on INEC Chairman Mahmoud Yakubu by the court at the request of Atiku and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Both petitioners are litigating the declaration of Tinubu as winner of the presidential vote by the INEC.
Lawyers for the petitioners had earlier disclosed they subpoenaed Yakubu to appear before the court in order to produce requested documents to prove their claim that Tinubu’s election was invalid.
At the resumed hearing, PDP counsel Chris Uche, SAN informed the court that Yakubu, through an INEC Deputy Director M.O Tairu, brought some of the documents.
Tairu tendered
- Form EC8D – results for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FTC).
- Certified True Copies (CTCs) of the documents in both soft and hard copies.
- Form EC8DA – the final declaration of the results
- Accredited data from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used in Rivers
All the respondents, including the INEC, objected to the admissibility of the documents.
INEC counsel A.B. Mahmoud also asserted the petitioners were yet to pay for the certification of the documents tendered.
Uche countered, saying N6.7 million “has been paid to the first respondent [INEC],” and argued the documents were produced on the orders of the court.
The five-man panel of the court, headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani, brushed aside the objections and admitted the documents in evidence.
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Related articles:
PEPC admits from Obi blurred 18,000 PU results, against Tinubu’s objection
Atiku alleges INEC sabotage for failing to provide materials for his petition
Atiku lines up 100 witnesses against Tinubu
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Other documents admitted in evidence
The PEPC has also admitted in evidence data analysis of the election results and their accompanying appendices in Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi’s petition against Tinubu, according to reporting by The PUNCH.
The court equally admitted in evidence blurred results from 18,088 polling units from INEC results viewing portal, IReV.
LP counsel Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN called a Professor of mathematics, Eric Ofoedu, as a witness to tender a report of data analysis on the election.
A staff member of Arise News, Lumnie Edevbie, also appeared as a witness for the LP.
Edevbie, led in evidence by LP lawyer Patrick Ikweato, SAN), tendered in evidence a copy of a flash drive containing a video clip showing Yakubu giving a speech at Chatham House in London on January 17.
In the speech, Yakubu made a case for the use of BVAS and IRev as the Commission’s biggest archive and repository of the results of the election.
