Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT, has ruled that Peter Obi and the Labour Party, LP, have failed to prove that President Bola Tinubu was convicted in the US.
Gatekeepers News reports that the lead judge of the PEPT, Justice Haruna Tsamani dismissed the drug trafficking claims against Tinubu.
Obi and LP had claimed that Tinubu was involved in a drug trafficking case in which he forfeited $460,000 to the United States of America via a case determined by a US District Court.
Justice Tsamani agreed with the submission of Tinubu’s counsel, citing a letter issued by the US Embassy in 2003.
The US embassy had communicated with the Inspector-General of Police at the time, Tafa Balogun, that a record check conducted to establish Tinubu’s involvement in drug crimes came back negative.
The Judge ruled that no record of criminal arrest or conviction was established against Tinubu by the petitioners – Obi and the LP.
In a related development, the PEPT dismissed LP/Obi’s Petition on 25 per cent needed to win the presidential election, stressing that FCT residents have no special privileges as the petitioners claimed.
Meanwhile, the court earlier rejected 10 out of 13 witnesses presented by Obi.
Justice Tsammani, who took over to deliver judgment on the substantive petition filed by Obi and LP, said this on Wednesday.
The Judge said Obi called 13 witnesses, who testified as PW1 to PW13, noting that only three witnesses whose statements are on oath, were filed along with the petition.
According to him, the remaining 10 witnesses were subpoenaed and their witness statements on oath were only filed after the hearing started.
