Moments after the Presidential Elections Petition Tribunal (PEPT) unveiled the Certified True Copy (CTC) validating Bola Tinubu’s presidential election win, concerns echoed from Atiku Abubakar’s team. Specifically, they questioned the watermark highlighting the president’s legal team on the document, a detail highlighted by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.
Phrank Shaibu, who serves as the Special Assistant on Public Communications to the former Vice President, swiftly issued a statement. He called upon PEPT to shed light on this anomaly, underscoring its importance to the Nigerian populace.
Shaibu articulated,
“In the wake of the CTC judgment’s tardy release to Atiku Abubakar and his legal representatives, there’s an urgent need for PEPT to discuss the distinct ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team’ header. This was noticeably absent from the petitioners’ versions. Does this suggest a bias toward Tinubu’s legal side? We earnestly seek clarification.”
The situation intensified when Atiku’s chief lawyer pressed for an immediate handover of the judgment. Reacting to this, Justice Haruna Tsammani gave his word that the document would be in their hands the next day, thereby increasing both anticipation and scrutiny surrounding the matter.
Diving deeper into the issue, Shaibu argued,
“The citizenry is seeking transparency. What motivated PEPT to prioritize the release to the Tinubu group, especially when the petitioners urgently needed the document for a Supreme Court appeal, constrained by a stringent 14-day countdown?”
He further pinpointed the omnipresent ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team’ banner across all 798 pages. This raised suspicions that Tinubu’s legal faction could indeed be the document’s progenitors. For Shaibu, the exclusive emblem on such an authoritative document should unmistakably be the stamp of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria.
Highlighting the intricate sequence of events, Shaibu stated, “There was an undeniable delay in handing over the judgment to the petitioners, even after two formal pleas. Once it became apparent that the CTC bearing the ‘TPLT’ logo was in circulation, it seems efforts were made to erase this imprint prior to its dissemination to Atiku’s legal cadre.”
Emphasizing the urgency, Shaibu voiced, “Given the brief 14-day window available for the PDP and Atiku’s legal ensemble to formulate their Supreme Court appeal, we’ve unfortunately lost two valuable days due to these intricacies.”
Concluding his perspective, Shaibu underscored, “The international community is closely monitoring. We are on a quest for unequivocal answers to fortify the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary. Beyond being an issue about Atiku, it’s a testament to safeguarding our democratic principles and the foundational pillars that sustain them.”
