President Bola Tinubu has asked the Supreme Court to throw out the forgery evidence tendered by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar.
Recall that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, in its judgment on September 6, dismissed the petition filed by Atiku challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.
According to the tribunal, the former Vice President failed to prove all the averments in his petition, stressing that his petitions lacked merit and was dismissed.
However, Atiku filed 35 grounds notice of appeal before the Supreme Court on September 18 and asked the apex court to set aside the entire findings and conclusions of the tribunal.
In the appeal, the PDP candidate submitted that the tribunal’s findings were done with “grave errors and gross misrepresentation”, which resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
In a counter affidavit filed on Thursday, October 12, Tinubu said the apex court should dismiss the forgery evidence tendered by Atiku on the grounds that the deposition of the Registrar of the Chicago State University (CSU), Caleb Westberg, was conducted by U.S. attorneys rather than certified judicial officers.
The President claimed that the content of the deposition could not be trusted, adding that it was not held in a neutral setting because Dechert LLP, the legal firm representing Atiku, selected their West Wacker office as the venue.
He said: “I know as a fact that neither Gwendolyn Bedford nor any other person present at the deposition is a judicial officer.
DECHERT LLP referenced as the venue of the deposition, is the law office where Angela Liu, Esq., counsel to the 1st appellant herein, serves as partner.”
