President Bola Tinubu’s legal team has addressed the recent controversy surrounding the watermarking of certified copies of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) judgment.
The team emphasized that allegations of imprinted watermarks on the copies provided by the court registry were baseless and fueled by mischief makers on social media.
According to Babatunde Ogala, SAN, the coordinator of the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT), representatives from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were present at the court registry when certified copies of the PEPC judgment were distributed to all parties.
Ogala clarified, “Upon receipt of the judgment, President Tinubu’s legal team watermarked its own copy before circulating it to its members.
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.”
The statement further emphasized that the insinuations circulating in some quarters were false and unkind, and that all parties involved possessed the same certified copies of the judgment.
It’s worth noting that the Court of Appeal recently upheld President Tinubu as the valid winner of the presidential election held on February 25.
However, both Atiku and Peter Obi, who came second and third in the election, have expressed their intent to approach the Supreme Court for redress, alleging frustration in obtaining a copy of the judgment in a timely manner.