Only our copy of the PEPT judgment is watermarked – explains Tinubu’s lawyer
….says a false and mischievous social media insinuation
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA– President Bola Tinubu's legal team has denied the allegation that certified copies of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, PEPC, which were made available to all parties by the court registry, bore their imprint.
The Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, TPLT, in a statement made available to journalists through its coordinator, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, described the allegation which gained traction on social media as the work of troublemakers.
Ogala, SAN, explained that lawyers representing the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were at the court registry when certified copies of the PEPC judgment were handed over to the parties.
According to him, upon receipt of the judgment, President Tinubu's legal team watermarked its own copy before distributing it to its members.
He said: “Following some mischievous insinuations made in some quarters regarding the innocuous watermarking of copies of the consolidated judgment of the Court of Appeal with the inscription – ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team ‘TPLT’, it is become necessary to offer this clarification.
“After the judgment on the 3 (three) electoral petitions was pronounced by the Court of Appeal on September 6, 2023, the Court ordered its Registry to make physical copies available on September 7, 2023.
p>“Accordingly, Tinubu's presidential legal team requested a certified copy of the said judgment and paid the prescribed fees.
“PDP’s lawyers were present at the registry at the same time to collect the same judgment.
“In fact, the PDP representative collected the first copy made available by the registry.
Related News“When we collected our own copy, we immediately scanned and watermarked the inscription “Tinubu Presidential Legal Team “TPLT”” before circulating the scanned electronic copies to our team lawyers.
“The certified copies issued to us and other parties in the applications by the Registry do not contain the said entry and any insinuation to the contrary is false.
“The applicants' lawyers will also appreciate that the insinuations circulating in some quarters are false, unkind, unfair and unfortunate, as they have the same certified copies of the judgment as we do,” the statement added. .
It will be recalled that the court last Wednesday confirmed President Tinubu as the valid winner of the February 25 presidential election.
However, dissatisfied with the unanimous verdict of the five-member tribunal headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani, Atiku of the PDP and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labor Party, LP, who came second and third in the presidential election, election, committed to approach the Supreme Court for relief.
Atiku, who has 14 days to finalize the filing of his appeal, had earlier accused the court of deliberately frustrating his efforts to approach the apex court on time, alleging that it had refused to provide him with a copy of the judgment.
/p>
….says a false and mischievous social media insinuation
By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA– President Bola Tinubu's legal team has denied the allegation that certified copies of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, PEPC, which were made available to all parties by the court registry, bore their imprint.
The Tinubu Presidential Legal Team, TPLT, in a statement made available to journalists through its coordinator, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, described the allegation which gained traction on social media as the work of troublemakers.
Ogala, SAN, explained that lawyers representing the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were at the court registry when certified copies of the PEPC judgment were handed over to the parties.
According to him, upon receipt of the judgment, President Tinubu's legal team watermarked its own copy before distributing it to its members.
He said: “Following some mischievous insinuations made in some quarters regarding the innocuous watermarking of copies of the consolidated judgment of the Court of Appeal with the inscription – ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team ‘TPLT’, it is become necessary to offer this clarification.
“After the judgment on the 3 (three) electoral petitions was pronounced by the Court of Appeal on September 6, 2023, the Court ordered its Registry to make physical copies available on September 7, 2023.
p>“Accordingly, Tinubu's presidential legal team requested a certified copy of the said judgment and paid the prescribed fees.
“PDP’s lawyers were present at the registry at the same time to collect the same judgment.
“In fact, the PDP representative collected the first copy made available by the registry.
Related News“When we collected our own copy, we immediately scanned and watermarked the inscription “Tinubu Presidential Legal Team “TPLT”” before circulating the scanned electronic copies to our team lawyers.
“The certified copies issued to us and other parties in the applications by the Registry do not contain the said entry and any insinuation to the contrary is false.
“The applicants' lawyers will also appreciate that the insinuations circulating in some quarters are false, unkind, unfair and unfortunate, as they have the same certified copies of the judgment as we do,” the statement added. .
It will be recalled that the court last Wednesday confirmed President Tinubu as the valid winner of the February 25 presidential election.
However, dissatisfied with the unanimous verdict of the five-member tribunal headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani, Atiku of the PDP and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labor Party, LP, who came second and third in the presidential election, election, committed to approach the Supreme Court for relief.
Atiku, who has 14 days to finalize the filing of his appeal, had earlier accused the court of deliberately frustrating his efforts to approach the apex court on time, alleging that it had refused to provide him with a copy of the judgment.
/p>
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