Boma Achenimie 
A witness for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Mr Hitler Nwala, a digital forensic analyst, has levelled some significant allegations against President Bola Tinubu’s declaration as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
As an expert witness for the petitioners, PDP and Atiku in their appeal contesting the outcome of the February 25, presidential election, Nwala tendered the allegations before the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) in Abuja on Friday.
Here are the allegations raised against Tinubu:
1) Tinubu failed to secure the mandatory 25% of votes cast in FCT.
2) INEC deliberately deleted the FCT Presidential election result from the BVAS machine.
However, the witness was questioned by President Tinubu’s lawyer, Mr Wole Olanipekun (SAN), with a passage from his report in which he said that nothing was fundamentally wrong with the devices based on his assessment of them.
The witness claimed that because he wasn’t in Abuja on election day, he couldn’t have known if there were any issues with the equipment.
Further, the witness mentioned in his report that a court order encouraging INEC to permit the inspection had led to the forensic examination of the BVAS machine and the IReV report.
In the meantime, the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was accepted in evidence by the Presidential Election Petitions Court on Friday. It included Certified True Copies of President Bola Tinubu’s academic credentials.
New Telegraph had earlier reported that during Friday’s hearings, the court admitted Tinubu’s certified degree from Chicago State University, his discharge certificate from the National Youth Service Corps carrying the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle,” his certificate of service from Mobil Nigeria Plc, as well as a copy of his Guinean passport.
The PDP called Mike Enahoro Ebah, a lawyer and human rights advocate, as a witness to the court to support its claim that Tinubu falsified his academic, professional, and diplomatic records.
The witness presented copies of Tinubu’s undergraduate certificate from 1977, his degree certificate from Chicago State University, and a transcript from South West College, all of which were led in as exhibits by Chris Uche, the PDP’s lead attorney.
He testified before the court that the transcript proved the gender of the Tinubu who attended Chicago State University.
The witness further informed the court that records he acquired from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) demonstrated that the name Adekunle appeared on the NYSC certificate Tinubu provided.
The witness produced INEC Forms EC13 and EC9, Tinubu’s INEC nomination forms. As part of his nomination paperwork, he also presented an affidavit, receipts, and a letter that President Tinubu had sent to INEC.
INEC’s attorney, Abubakar Mahmoud, objected to the documents’ admission. The All Progressives Congress and Tinubu’s legal team both expressed disapproval. However, the documents were accepted as evidence and designated as exhibits by the five-judge bench presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani.
In their appeal, the petitioners claimed that Tinubu had contradictory information regarding his true date of birth, secondary schools he attended (Government College Ibadan), his state of origin, gender, and real name, as well as documents attesting to his attendance at universities (Chicago State University).
The petitioners additionally claim that a female (F) identified as “F” in the Certificate carrying the name Bola Tinubu actually belonged to the supposed degree certificate of Tin that he allegedly obtained from Chicago State University.
According to them, “The 2nd Respondent did not disclose to the 1st Respondent (INEC) his voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. D00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship. The 2nd Respondent is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports”.
The witness also presented a printed copy of President Tinubu’s Guinean passport along with a notarized judgement from the US District Court addressing Tinubu’s purported confiscation of money found in his bank account that was thought to be the profits of drug activities.
The petitioners are also alleging that the purported degree certificate Tin allegedly acquired at the Chicago State University did not belong to him but to a female (F) described as “F” in the Certificate bearing the name Bola Tinubu.
According to them, “The 2nd Respondent did not disclose to the 1st Respondent (INEC) his voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of the Republic of Guinea with Guinean Passport No. D00001551, in addition to his Nigerian citizenship. The 2nd Respondent is hereby given notice to produce the original copies of his said two passports”.
The witness further tendered notarised judgement of the US District Court regarding Tinubu’s alleged forfeiture of funds traced to his bank account suspected to be proceeds of narcotic deals, as well as a printed extract of the Guinean passport of the president.
Under cross-examination by INEC’s lawyer, Mahmoud asked what dates he received the documents he tendered before the court. He said the forwarding letter from his lawyer based in the US came in November 1, 2022, while the US court judgement came in April 2023.
Also at the proceedings, PDP lawyer, Eyitayo Jegede, tendered more INEC-certified true copies of Form EC8As for Delta(25 LGAs), Ebonyi (13 LGAs), Edo( 18 LGAs), Enugu (17 LGAs), Imo (27 LGAs) and Kogi states ( 21 LGAs).
The court acknowledged the materials over the opposition of all petition respondents to their acceptance.
