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“The Supreme Court has acknowledged the presence of conflicting letters from Chicago State University (CSU) concerning President Bola Tinubu’s certificate.
During the hearing of the appeal filed by the PDP’s Atiku Abubakar this morning, Justice John Okoro, the Chairman of the 7-member panel, mentioned that the court is currently in possession of two conflicting letters.
As a reminder, on September 6, 2023, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal had dismissed the appeals of Atiku and Peter Obi of the Labour Party. Subsequently, both individuals took their cases to the Supreme Court, with Atiku requesting permission to present additional evidence against Tinubu, alleging document forgery. Atiku had sought access to Tinubu’s academic records from Chicago State University in order to substantiate his claim that the president had submitted forged documents to INEC.
However, when the documents were finally released, the 180-day statutory period for filing and resolving an election petition had expired. Atiku still requested the court to permit him to introduce fresh evidence, given the significance of the matter. Tinubu opposed this, contending that granting such a request would constitute an abuse of the court’s process. Atiku based his appeal on the argument that presenting forged documents by any candidate, especially a candidate for the highest office in the land, is a grave constitutional issue that should not be condoned.
In response, President Tinubu argued that the issue was a pre-election matter, among other points, and urged the court to reject the application.
Disagreeing with Tinubu, Atiku contended that issues of merit should not be determined or pronounced upon at the interlocutory stage. Atiku also emphasized that presenting a forged certificate disqualifies a candidate permanently, regardless of when it was presented.
During the morning’s appeal hearing, Justice Okoro pointed out that criminal matters must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He then posed the question, “In this case, there are two conflicting letters from CSU – one authenticating the president’s certificate and another discrediting it. Which should we rely on?”
