HEADLINE
Tinubu legal team defends header
…Says allegation untrue, unkind, unfair, unfortunate
From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) yesterday reacted angrily to what it described as mischievous insinuations in certain quarters over its watermark on the copies of the consolidated judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC).
TPLT Coordinator, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, in a statement he issued on Saturday claimed that it was the copies of its Certified True Copy (CTC) of the said judgment obtained after paying the prescribed fee that was water-marked.
The legal team maintained that the Certified True Copies issued to it and other parties in the petitions by the Registry do not contain the said inscription, stressing that any insinuation to the contrary is untrue.
They insisted that Counsel to the petitioners that have the same certified copies of the judgment can attest to the fact that the insinuations circulated in some quarters are untrue, unkind, unfair, and unfortunate.
The statement reads: “Following some mischievous insinuations being made in certain quarters regarding the innocuous water-mark of copies of the consolidated judgment of the Court of Appeal with the inscription – “Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT), it has become necessary to offer this clarification.
“After the delivery of judgment in the three election petitions by the Court of Appeal on September 6, 2023, the court directed its registry to make physical copies of same available on September 7, 2023.
“Accordingly, the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team applied for a certified true copy of the said judgment and paid the prescribed fee. Lawyers for PDP were present at the registry at the same time to collect the same judgment. In fact, the representative of the PDP collected the first copy that was made available by the registry.
“On collecting our own copy, we immediately scanned and water-marked with the inscription Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) before circulating the scanned soft copies to the lawyers in our team.
“The certified true copies issued to us and other parties in the petitions by the registry do not contain the said inscription and any insinuation to the contrary is untrue.
“Counsel to the petitioners will also appreciate the fact that the insinuations being circulated in some quarters are untrue, unkind, unfair, and unfortunate, as they have the same certified copies of the judgment as we have.”