Politics

APC closes case against Atiku’s petition, says ‘we won’t whip dead horse’

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has closed its case against the election petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja without calling a single witness.

The counsel for APC, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, told the court that there was “no need whipping a dead horse”, saying the evidence of President Bola Tinubu‘s sole witness, Senator Opeyemi Bamide, was enough to do damage to the petitioners’ case.

Fagbemi said: “Having taken a sober reflection of the entire case, we have enough evidence and we are not calling any witness.

“We do not intend to whip a dead horse; we announce the closure of the case of the 3rd respondent (APC).”

Fagbemi took this position after he cross-examined Bamidele who was Tinubu’s only witness.

Bamidele, who is also a lawyer, told the court that the $460,000 forfeiture judgement tendered in evidence by the petitioners was not strong enough to warrant the nullification of Tinubu’s election.

According to the witness, the judgement of the U.S. court on the forfeiture of $460,000 had Tinubu’s name on it but not as a criminal proceeding but as a civil proceeding.

Bamidele, who is the Senate Majority Leader, stressed that Tinubu was not charged, arraigned, indicted, or sentenced for any criminal offence by any court in the United States.

“As far as criminal indictment is concerned, Tinubu has a clean bill of health because he was never indicted and convicted by any court in the United States,” he added.

The witness told the court that he had known Tinubu for over 35 years, adding that in all those years, he knew the president as a bonafide Nigerian citizen by birth.

While answering questions posed by counsel for the petitioners, Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, the witness said Tinubu did not need to score 25 per cent of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be declared winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election.

Bamidele stated the president did not need to win the election in his home state to be declared winner.

The witness stressed that Abuja was simply the federal capital city and has no special status attached to it.

He agreed with the petitioners’ counsel that President Tinubu scored 19.4 per cent of the total votes cast in FCT.

The witness who was led in evidence by Tinubu’s counsel, Wole Olanipekin, SAN, said a judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, in a suit filed by the Labour Party (LP) on the mode of collation of election results, held that INEC was at liberty to use any mode of collation it deemed fit.

With the sole witness, Olanipekun also announced the closure of Tinubu’s defence against the petition filed by the PDP and Atiku.

The closing of the defence by Tinubu and the APC marks the end of one phase and takes the case filed by PDP and Atiku to its next phase which is the exchanging of final written addresses among parties and closing arguments.

The presiding judge of the five-member panel, Justice Haruna Tsammani, gave the respondents, INEC, APC, and Tinubu 10 days to file their final written addresses; the petitioners have seven days to respond, while the respondents have another five days to reply on points of law.

Justice Tsammani added that the parties would be communicated on the date for the adoption of the final written addresses.

Atiku, who came second in the 2023 presidential election, is urging the court to overturn Tinubu’s victory on account of electoral fraud and non-compliance with statutory provisions in the conduct of the election.

The Star