In a significant development, the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja admitted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s educational documents from Chicago State University as exhibits. President Tinubu, who commenced his defense against the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, presented these documents to establish his attendance and graduation from the renowned American institution. The evidence included an admission letter offered to Tinubu by the university.

President Tinubu’s legal team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, also submitted his US Visa documents, indicating his unrestricted visits to the United States of America (USA) between 2011 and 2021. These documents aimed to refute the allegations of criminality leveled against him in the petition. Furthermore, President Tinubu provided the court with all relevant documents from the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) that confirmed his clearance for the US trips.

Despite objections raised by the PDP and the former Vice President, the court admitted the documents as exhibits. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the first and third respondents in the petition, did not object to the admission of any of the documents.

In addition to the educational records, the court accepted the originating summons from a lawsuit filed at the Supreme Court by the attorneys general of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, and Sokoto. These attorneys general questioned Tinubu’s educational qualifications to run for the presidency in 2023. Furthermore, newspaper publications reporting on various lawsuits filed against Tinubu by different groups were also admitted as evidence.

The next hearing for the petition has been postponed until July 5, as announced by Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, the presiding justice of the court.