Supreme Court Rejects Atiku’s Bid to Introduce Fresh Evidence in Presidential Election Case

Nigeria’s Supreme Court has rejected Atiku Abubakar’s application to introduce fresh evidence in his case against the election victory of President Bola Tinubu. The court’s decision, delivered by Justice Iyang Okoro, emphasized that the time allotted for presenting new evidence had lapsed and could not be extended.

The ruling highlighted the immutability of the 180-day period established for the resolution of election petitions. Atiku’s motion requesting the admission of fresh documents was not granted by the apex court.

Atiku had urged the Supreme Court to consider new documents related to President Bola Tinubu’s qualifications during a hearing that took place on Monday. However, the court ruled that Atiku’s motion did not meet the criteria for the admission of fresh evidence, as the appellant had failed to obtain this evidence within the required timeframe, despite the documents being available for over a year.

During the proceedings, Chris Uche, SAN, the lead counsel for Atiku, argued for the acceptance of the fresh evidence, emphasizing the importance of President Tinubu’s academic records from CSU. He described the issue of Tinubu’s certificate as weighty and constitutional.

However, Uche’s plea faced opposition from Abubakar Mahmoud, the lawyer representing INEC, and Wole Olanipekun, the lead counsel for President Tinubu. They urged the Supreme Court to dismiss Atiku’s application, with Olanipekun highlighting that INEC should have been involved in the deposition proceedings in the United States. He also argued that the CSU depositions remained dormant until the deponent appeared in court to testify.

Olanipekun stressed that the Supreme Court did not have original jurisdiction to hear the case and should, therefore, reject the fresh evidence presented by Atiku.