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Supreme Court Can Accept Fresh Evidence, Atiku Tells Tinubu

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3 years ago

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  • Says His Motion For Fresh Evidence Not Statute Barred

  • Supreme Court Cannot Accept Fresh Documents After 180 days-Tinubu

  • The  apex Court Will Begin Hearing On  Application On Monday.



  • Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) nominee for president in 2023, has provided arguments for the Supreme Court to consider his new evidence against President Bola Tinubu.
  • Atiku contends that the supreme court ought to grant him permission to submit new evidence regarding the Tinubu petition from Chicago State University (CSU) since it will substantiate his allegation that Tinubu was not qualified to run for president in 2023.
  • He made the submission in a reply on the point of law he filed to counter objections that President Tinubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the APC raised to query the admissibility of documents that were released to him by the Chicago State University in the United States of America.
  • Accotding to report, Atiku through  his councel asserted  that apart from proving that Tinubu was ineligible to contest the election, it would also show that the former Lagos State Governor was involved in certificate forgery.
  •  Atiku obtained a 32-page document from the CSU on Tinubu’s academic records based on the order of Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division, Illinois, United States of America.
  • The US court had ordered the CSU to release the said documents to Atiku, despite Tinubu’s objection.
  • However, there have been arguments from some stakeholders in the suit including President Tinubu, INEC and the APC that the Supreme Court can’t accept fresh evidence at this stage of the case.
  • But Atiku, through his team of lawyers led by “Chris Uche (SAN), argued that contrary to the position of the respondents, no such limitation exists.
  • There is no such constitutional limit of 180 days on the lower court to hear and determine a presidential election petition, such that can rob this Honourable Court to exercise its power in any manner whatsoever.
  • The parties are agreed that the Constitution is the fons et origo and the grundnorm, and supersedes any other legislation,” he argued.
  • Besides, Atiku maintained that while tribunals were established to deal with election matters from Houses of Assembly, National Assembly and governorship elections, the Constitution gave the jurisdiction to entertain disputes from presidential elections only to the Court of Appeal.
  • Thereafter, the Constitution was intentional and deliberate in setting the 180 days limit only for Election Tribunals, and not for the Court of Appeal. On the other hand, when it came to appeals, the Constitution clearly and expressly extended same to the Court of Appeal.
  • “The Constitution clearly excluded Court of Appeal in the preceding subsection,” he submitted.”
  • Atiku further argued that based on Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, that heard and dismissed his petition, was not an election tribunal.
  • He contended that the framers of the Constitution limited the application of the 180 days specifically to election tribunals by virtue of section 285(6), excluding the Court of Appeal.
  • On the other hand, when it came to the next subsection, namely Section 285(7), they intentionally included and mentioned Court of Appeal.
  • The trite maxim, My Lords, is “expressio unius est exclusio alterius”, meaning that the express mention of one thing in a statutory provision automatically excludes any other which otherwise would have been included by implication.

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