The Supreme Court cannot at this stage admit the fresh evidence sought to be tendered by Atiku Abubakar in his appeal challenging the outcome of the February 25 poll, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has argued. He urged the highest court to reject the purported fresh evidence Atiku and his party claimed to have obtained from the Chiacago State University (CSU).
Tinubu contented that the Supreme Court could no longer assume trial jurisdiction in the case since the 180 days for the hearing of the election petition had since lapsed.
He added that not only is the new evidence strange to the proceedings having not been presented during the trial, but Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who were joint petitioners at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), did not challenge the poll outcome on the ground of forgery.
Also, Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, noted that Atiku and the PDP never pleaded before the PEPC any document or deposition from the CSU in support of their fourth ground on Tinubu’s alleged non-qualification.
