In another development at the hearing of the verdict of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, the Court ruled that the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, failed to prove that President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was convicted for alleged drug trafficking in the United States.
The petitioners had alleged that Tinubu was indicted and fined the sum of $460,000.00 by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483, for an offense involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.
Dismissing the allegation, the five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani held that the $460 000 fine imposed on Tinubu in the US was a civil matter, which did not translate to a criminal conviction.
Justice Haruna Tsammani said that a careful perusal of exhibits that were adduced before the Court showed that the case that led to the fine that was awarded against President Tinubu, “was in the civil docket” of the court in the US, adding that the petitioners failed to show that Tinubu was indicted, prosecuted, tried or convicted for any criminal offense in the USA.
The court referenced a 2003 letter from the Inspector General of Police and the subsequent response from the American Embassy, which confirmed the absence of a criminal record against Tinubu in its centralized information center.
Furthermore, the court noted that more than a decade had passed since the fine was imposed on President Tinubu. According to the court’s ruling, this fact rendered it an invalid ground for his disqualification.
PEPC then dismissed the allegation
by the Labour Party (LP) and Mr. Peter Obi, challenging President Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the presidential election.
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