A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Bola Aidi, has said that former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku, cannot tender any fresh evidence in aid of his appeal at the Supreme Court against the judgement of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) which dismissed the petition he (Atiku) filed along with his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The PEPC had, on September 6, 2023 dismissed the petitions filed by the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi and his party, Atiku and PDP and that of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the election of President Bola Tinubu for their inability to substantiate their allegations in their various petitions.

The petitioners have approached the Supreme Court with appeals seeking to set aside the judgement of the PEPC, saying that the Justices at the lower court erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice in arriving at their decision.

The former Vice President, who claimed that Tinubu submitted fake academic documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to qualify him contest for the post of president of the country, secured a judgement of the United States District Court ordering the Chicago State University (CSU) to send the original certificate of Tinubu to Atiku.

Atiku intends to tender the original of Tinubu’s certificate released to him by the CSU as evidence in aid of his appeal seeking the nullification of Tinubu’s election before the Supreme Court.

Amongst the issues raised by Tinubu in objection to the release of his academic records include claims of privacy and that Atiku was on a fishing expedition since he can no longer use the documents to prosecute his appeal at the Supreme Court.

But the US Court held that Tinubu failed to provide any testimony or evidence indicating that the PEPC’s somehow prevented the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in its discretion, from considering new arguments and evidence under “exceptional circumstances”.

Aidi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) told Sunday Tribune that Atiku is not allowed by law to tender any fresh evidence at the Supreme Court.

According to Aidi, “It is therefore established beyond per adventure that nothing can be added to the election petition filed by Atiku before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. He must swim or sink with the garbage of his petition.

“Postulating the introduction of evidence on appeal to an election petition is clearly a manifestation of mischief and a play to the gallery”, he added and explained that election petitions are sui generis, meaning that they are not subject to the ordinary rules of Court.

The senior lawyer said, the rules guiding election petitions are distinct and take its offshoot from the clear provisions of the constitution.

“Section 285( 5 ) states that an election petition shall be filed within 21 days after the date of declaration of result of the election.

“From decided cases, it is established that strict compliance with the election practice directions are necessary in order to manifest the intention of the legislature. That is the position of the Supreme Court in the recent case of Wellington v P. D. P and Others”, he said.

Another lawyer, Amos Bature, told Sunday Tribune that there are several authorities supporting taking fresh evidence but usually, at the discretion of the court.

According to Bature, the quest by Atiku to tender fresh evidence in aid of his appeal, is a novel case and the Supreme Court has to take a lot of factors into consideration in arriving at its decision. (Saturday Tribune)

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