A star witness of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku, the presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential
election, Mike Enahoro-Eba, on Friday evening at the Presidential Election
Petition Court (PEPC), faulted the judgement of the United States of America’s
court in which President Bola Tinubu reportedly forfeited $460, 000 dollars for
alleged drug offences.
The witness, who is a lawyer of 17 years, admitted that the
judgement copy was not registered in Nigeria as required by law when delivered
to make it effective in the country.
He admitted that there was no evidence in the judgement that
Tinubu appeared before the court for his plea to be taken, face trial, and be
convicted as required by criminal trial procedure.
Enahoro-Eba, who is an Abuja-based activist, faulted the
judgement while answering questions from Tinubu’s lead counsel, Chief Wole
Olanipekun, during cross-examination.
“As a lawyer, I am aware that there are differences between
criminal forfeiture and civil forfeiture,” he said.
He, however, insisted that President Tinubu, on his own,
admitted forfeiting the money in a civil matter.
The witness whose cross-examination almost drew the anger of
the court said that he was not aware of a letter of February 4, 2003, written
to the Inspector General of Police by the US Consulate in Nigeria.
Answering another question from Olanipekun, the witness
denied knowledge of any warrant of arrest issued against Tinubu by the American
government.
He admitted instituting direct criminal charges of forgery
against Tinubu at a Magistrate Court in Abuja but said the case was thrown out
by the court due to a lack of jurisdiction.
Besides faulting the judgement, the witness under
cross-examination said he was not aware of a public notice of June 27, 2022, by
the Registrar of Chicago University to the effect that Tinubu attended the
institution and graduated with honours.
Also during cross-examination by lead counsel to the All
Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, the witness
admitted to knowing Chicago University as a public institution established in
1863.
He said that there was no certificate in the hand of any
police officer relating to the judgement on forfeiture of $460, 000 by Tinubu,
and there was no fingerprint or photograph of anybody on the judgement copy.
Immediately after the cross-examination, lead counsel to
Atiku and PDP, Chief Chris Uche, announced the close of prosecution of the
petition, having exhausted the number of days allotted to them by the Court.
The presiding justice of the court, Justice Haruna Simon
Tsammani, has fixed July 3 for Tinubu, APC, and INEC to open their respective
defence in the petition.
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