A witness of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 general election, Senator Michael Bamidele, on Wednesday, told the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu does not need to score 25 percent of votes cast in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to be declared winner of the election.
Under cross-examination by counsel to Atiku Abubakar and his party, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), the witness, who is a lawyer and the current Senate majority leader said, although Abuja is the Federal Capital of Nigeria, it has no special status other than that.
When asked if the report of the committee on the location of FCT of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recommends a special recognition for FCT as a symbol of unity, the witness said other state capitals are also centers of unity.
He agreed with the petitioners’ counsel that President Tinubu scored 19.4 percent of the total votes cast in the FCT, and when asked if Tinubu would emerge as the first president to be declared winner of a presidential election without scoring 25 percent votes in FCT and not winning his home state, the witness said it does not matter.
According to the witness, the judgment of the US court on the forfeiture of $460,000 has Tinubu’s name but not as a criminal suspect, insisting that it was a civil forfeiture and not a criminal forfeiture.
Answering questions from the lead counsel to the APC, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the witness agreed that there cannot be a conviction without a charge, trial, or indictment and that exhibits AR7 and AR8 gave Tinubu a clean bill of health as far as an indictment of criminal record in the United States is concerned.
The witness said, by the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in a suit filed by the Labour Party against INEC on the mode of collation of election results, INEC is at liberty to use any mode of collation of results it deems fit.
After the testimony of President Tinubu’s sole witness, Chief Wole Olanipekun, Tinubu’s lawyer, announced the closure of the defense of his client in the petition filed by Atiku and his party challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
When called upon to open defense for the APC, listed as the third respondents in the petition, Fagbemi told the court, “Having taken a sober reflection of the entire case, we felt we have enough evidence, and we are not calling any witness, we announced the closure of the case of the 3rd respondent”
Meanwhile, the five-member panel of Justices of the court, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani, gave the respondents 10 days to file their final written addresses and the petitioners seven days to respond and five days to respond.
The presiding Justice said the parties would be communicated on the date for the adoption of their final written addresses.
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