PDP Criticizes Tinubu’s Legal Team Over Certified True Copies of Election Petition Court Judgment

In a scathing response to President Bola Tinubu’s legal team, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned their handling of the Certified True Copies (CTC) of the Presidential Election Petition Court’s judgment. The PDP described the defense presented by Tinubu’s legal team as an act of self-indictment.

The PDP’s criticism comes in the wake of Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, expressing dissatisfaction with the legal team’s actions. The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, issued a statement in Abuja on Monday, highlighting that the claim made by Tinubu’s legal team, stating that they “scanned and watermarked” their copy of the judgment with the inscription, ‘Tinubu Presidential Legal Team,’ is self-incriminating. This claim, according to the PDP, supports the widespread public belief that the All Progressives Congress (APC) engaged in pre-determined manipulation.

According to the statement, “The rush by the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) in admitting that they imprinted their identity on the CTC of the judgment raises suspicion. It appears to be a desperate attempt to deflect public scrutiny and prevent the possibility of further revelations regarding the issue. The PDP, along with the majority of Nigerians, remains unsatisfied with the claims made by Tinubu’s legal team. Further examination and expert analysis indicate that the documents were not scanned and that the TPLT inscriptions are not watermarks but rather default headers that originate from the author of a document.”

The PDP demands that Tinubu’s legal team provide an explanation of how a default header on their computer system can be accepted as a watermark. Additionally, the PDP insists that the team disclose when precisely they received their CTC on Friday, September 8, 2023, the specific time at which the ‘watermark’ was imprinted on the document, the identity of the electronic device used to create the ‘watermark,’ and the PDF used in the watermarking process for independent analysis. The PDP also calls on the APC to be transparent in light of their reputation for manipulations.

It is worth noting that the judgment, which upheld Tinubu’s election as duly elected, has been vehemently rejected by the PDP and Atiku. They are now preparing to file an application for review at the Supreme Court in the coming days.