LIVE: Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, NSA arrive Supreme Court, as hearing in Atiku, Obi, APM’s appeals begin amidst tight security
11:330am: “This appeal is reserved for judgement until a date to be communicated to parties,” Justice Okoro says.
11:20am: Olanipekun, Mahmood, Olujimi all ask the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal.
11:13am: Next case is Obi’s appeal challenging Tinubu’s victory. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, announces appearance for Obi.
11:00am: The APM lawyer now moves to withdraw the appeal.
He says, “I apply to withdraw this appeal.”
This isn’t objected to by counsels to Tinubu, APC and INEC.
10:52am: Wole Olanipekun urges it to strike out APM’s grounds of appeal. APM lawyer however said he filed a counter-affidavit to Mr Olanipekun’s motion seeking to strike out the appeal, praying that the appeal be allowed.
“What will you gain if you win this appeal,” Justice Okoro asks APM lawyer.
10:24 a.m: Court rises for a five-minute recess.
10:14am: Olanipekun told the Supreme Court that his team submitted a motion on October 7 to dismiss some of the grounds of appeal raised by the appellants.
Uche opposes this motion and says that his team responded with a counter-affidavit on October 18. He says the counter-affidavit has a written address attached to it.
10:04am: Justice Okoro asks, “what do we do with the fresh evidence?” Olujinmi responds that the burden is on Atiku to prove why the fresh evidence should be admitted by the Supreme Court.
10:01am: Addressing the Supreme court, Akin Olujimi said, “This application lacks merit, it is misconceived and we urge the court to dismiss it,” the APC’s lawyer says.
He also adopts Olanipekun’s arguments.
“You cannot smuggle in a document into the Supreme Court without first tendering same at the trial court,” Olujimi added.
9:51am: Olanipekun asks how the Supreme Court _compartmentalise” Atiku’s fresh evidence. “This is an application in wonderland. It has no merit. We urge the court to dismiss.
“The courts are bound by the law, and the law is to be interpreted as it is,” he says.
9:49a.m: Wole Olanipekun, SAN, who is Tinubu’s lawyers, urges the Supreme Court to “dismiss this very unusual application” seeking to tender fresh evidence against Tinubu.
He says the fresh evidence is not admissible.
9:43 a.m: Justice Okoro says criminal matters have to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. But in this case, there are two conflicting letters from the CSU – one authenticating the president’s certificate and another discrediting it. “Which do we rely on?”
9:26am: He argues that Tinubu’s certificate issue is a serious, grave and constitutional matter that requires the Supreme Court’s attention.
He appeals to the court to consider the new evidence of President Tinubu’s academic records from CSU that Atiku has submitted.
He says the Supreme Court should examine Tinubu’s records and make a judgment based on the facts, not on technicalities.
9:20am: On the motion filed by Uche on October 6, he is seeking leave to present new evidence on appeal based on a sworn statement from Chicago State University.
He asks the court for five minutes to explain the motion.
He says the motion is based on 20 grounds and supported by an affidavit of 20 paragraphs filed on behalf of Atiku.
He says they have received a counter-affidavit from Tinubu, APC and INEC, and they have filed a written address dated 18 October in response.
He submits the motion and urges the court to grant their request.
9:10am: Chris Uche, SAN, announces appearance for Atiku, Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, for Tinubu and Akin Olujimi, SAN, for the All Progressives Congress.
9:07am: The first case to the heard is Atiku’s appeal, which is called by the court registrar
9:04am: A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by John Okoro files into the courtroom. Others are: Uwani Abba-Aji, Lawal Garba, Ibrahim Saulawa, Adamu Jauro, Tijjani Abubakar and Emmanuel Agim.
One of the key matters before the court is the admissibility of the documents containing Tinubu’s academic credentials obtained from the Chicago State University by Atiku.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court is today hearing the appeals of the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party Peter Obi and that of the Allied Peoples Movement challenging the judgement of the Court of Appeal which affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory at the February 25 presidential election.
