President Tinubu Closes Defence Against Peter Obi — Read What Happened

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, concluded his defence of the Labour Party, LP candidate Mr. Peter Obi’s appeal to invalidate his election victory.

After presenting one witness who testified before the Presidential Election case Court, PEPC, which is seated in Abuja, Tinubu, through his team of solicitors led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, concluded his response to the case.

In his testimony, the witness, Senator Micheal Opeyemi Bamidele, insisted that the 10, 929 votes President Tinubu received in Kano state at the conclusion of the presidential election were not correctly recorded.

Senator Bamidele told the court that many international bodies that sent observers to the country, including the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, filed a report after the election.

He told the court that the ECOWAS report on the presidential election dated February 27, was signed by a former President of Republic of Sierra Leone, Mr. Ernest Koroma.

Despite objection by Obi’s lead counsel, Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel admitted the ECOWAS report in evidence and marked it as Exhibit RA-27.

Obi’s lawyer said his team would adduce reasons why they opposed the admissibility of the report, in their final written address.

Continuing his testimony, the witness, confirmed a letter the LP wrote to INEC on April 25, 2022, wherein it forwarded its membership Register as well as its list of members in Anambra State, to the Commission.

Both documents from the LP to INEC, were admitted in evidence by the panel and marked as Exhibits RA-17 and RA-18.

The witness, who claimed to be the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and the current majority leader of the Senate, stated to the court during cross-examination by counsel for the All Progressives Congress, APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, that the list of members the LP forwarded to INEC prior to the presidential election did not include Obi’s name.

In addition, he informed the court that Tinubu could not be convicted of a crime since no charges had been brought against him, despite the fact that he had been an attorney licenced to practise in the USA since 1999.

The witness provided actual documents verifying his membership in the New York Bar in the United States on an equal footing