The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar filed an application to submit new evidence in the appeal contesting President Bola Tinubu’s election, but the Supreme Court decided on Thursday that this action violated the Electoral Act.
The court ruled that Atiku’s application could not be approved since the Electoral Act forbids changing an election petition in this way.
According to Justice John Okoro, the deadline for submitting evidence has gone and cannot be extended. He went on to say that the 180 days allotted for hearing petitions related to elections is set in stone and cannot be changed.
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He claims that after the trial court has had 180 days to render a decision, the Supreme Court is unable to apply section 22 of its act.
When Justice Okoro read his ruling, he decided to start by evaluating the motion made by Atiku and the PDP to provide new evidence in the form of academic records of President Bola Tinubu, which was obtained through documents from Chicago State University.
He emphasised how crucial it is to find out if the country’s legal system permits the court to consider new evidence at this point in the case.
The Judge thereafter ruled that “The court found as ridiculous the submission of Atiku Counsel that the 180-day rule does not apply to court of appeal sitting on the presidential election petition.
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“Even an application to amend their petition to accommodate the fresh evidence could not be granted
“The application for fresh evidence cannot be granted. We do not have jurisdiction and there is no pleading or issue for determination in this appeal on allegation or forgery.
“Fresh evidence is not granted as a matter of course.”
The Supreme Court argued that as the appellant did not make a sincere attempt to gather the evidence, the request for new evidence is denied and subsequently dismissed.
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