President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has closed their defence in the petition filed by Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi
At the court session on Wednesday, APC and Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun SAN, announced the closure of the case after presenting their witness, Senate Majority Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, to dispute the petition.
Led in evidence by Tinubu’s lawyer, Opeyemi told the court that as an attorney who has practiced in the United States since 1999, the forfeiture of funds traced to the bank account named “Bola Tinubu” was not a criminal conviction or sentence as alleged by Obi’s legal team.
He also told the court that in Kano State, the votes secured by Tinubu were not properly recorded and had a shortfall of 10,929 votes.
Under cross-examination by All Progressives Congress lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, the witness confirmed that he was the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and now Majority leader of the Senate.
He tendered his identity card showing he is a member of the New York Bar and said as a long-standing associate of Tinubu, he was aware that Tinubu is a Nigerian citizen by birth, apparently debunking claims about the president’s dual nationality.
Olanipekun SAN, as an evidence to prove its case that Peter Obi was not qualified to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the LP, as at the time of the election, presented the membership register of the Labour Party in Anambra State.