PEPC: Finally, President Tinubu, INEC, APC Open Defense at Tribunal Over Alleged 2023 Poll Rigging

• The presidential election petition tribunal resumed with the opening of President Bola Tinubu's defence on Tuesday, July 4
• This is coming on the heels of the numerous petitions filed against him by Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
• Similarly, President Tinubu will defend the European Union (EU) post-election report faulting his emergence as winner of the 2023 presidential poll

FCT, Abuja - President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is set to open his defence at the ongoing presidential election petition tribunal on Tuesday, July 4.

The development was confirmed in a report by BBC Pidgin, where it was noted that President Tinubu would open his defence as the second respondent in the petition presented before the court by Labour Party's Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging Tinubu's victory at the presidential poll on Saturday, February 25.

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It was gathered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had opened its defence 24 hours earlier at the tribunal.

Only one witness was available for cross-examination at the opening stages of INEC's defence, while some documents were also tendered for the process.

The witness, Dr Lawrence Bayode, a resident of Abuja who works as an ICT specialist for INEC, was said to have deposed his statement earlier in April.

Meanwhile, INEC's lead counsel, Abubakar Mahmood, refers to paragraph four of the witness statement, which he pointed out as a cloud trail log.

The INEC's legal attorney tendered this cloud log as evidence before the five-panel at the tribunal.

Meanwhile, other respondents included in the petition, like President Tinubu and the APC, did not oppose the admission of the document as evidence for the case.

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PDP, Atiku tenders EU's report as evidence

However, the lead counsel to Atiku, Chris Uche, in objection to the evidence presented by the electoral body, urged the court not to accept the evidence.

During the cross-examination of the witness by all the parties, lead Counsel to PDP, Chris Uche, tendered the European Union observation mission final report as an exhibit against President Tinubu.

The respondents (Tinubu, INEC, and APC) all objected to the report appealing to the court not to admit it. However, the tribunal admitted the EU report urging the respondents to prepare for their defence.

Fresh twist as tribunal admits EU’s report faulting Tinubu’s election

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the camp of President Bola Tinubu and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was rocked with panic following a new development in the presidential tribunal.

On Monday, June 3, the tribunal admitted as an exhibit against Tinubu the final post-election report of the European Union electoral observation team.

According to the report released on Tuesday, June 27, the 2023 general election conducted by INEC had no ounce of credibility.

Source: Legit.ng