Labour Party insists that the PEPC and APC must say the Truth on the TPLT header on the Certified True Copy of the judgement
By Israel Okah
The ruling All Progressives Congress is getting deeper into the chameleon faeces that the Presidential Election Petition judgement delivered on September 6 has become. Despite the desparate cleaning being done by the Party and Tinubu’s legal team, the scandal is building into a storm.
The header, Tinubu’s Presidential Legal Team, TPLT, appeared on the pages of the Certified True Copies of the judgement issued by PEPC.
Tinubu’s Legal Team has explained that the header was a ‘watermark’ they deliberately put on their CTC and distributed to members of their team .
However, that explanation has been dismissed by ICT experts as not plausible. Technically it is the originators of a document that watermarks it to avoid counterfeiting, not the receivers.
The Labour Party has rejected the explanation as an afterthought. The Party warned on Sunday, September 10, in a statement signed by Obiorah Ifoh, national Publicity Secretary, that the ‘watermark’ story “must not be another glitch” as claimed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for non- transmission of the presidential election results electronically as they advertised before the election.
They asked the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, and APC to come clean and tell Nigerians what really transpired.
“Consequent upon the revelation that Certified True Copies (CTC) of the recent judgment by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) had an imprint, “Tinubu Presidential Legal Team” (TPLT) as its header, Nigerians are curious about such happenstance that has inevitably generated storm and controversy.
“The Labour Party was very disturbed by the delay in releasing the judgment expeditiously, only to be confronted with this befuddlement. The public is equally at pains trying to comprehend what is happening.
“The onus of explaining and dousing the unfolding controversy rests on the PEPC and the TPLT, the imprint owners. Clearly, the header is not a watermark. We note that only some of the petitioners received the same version.
“In a highly contentious case with dire national interest and implications, confirming that the PEPC did not confer any advantage, rights, or privileges to any party is imperative. This development must be cleared up quickly to avoid conjectures and the belief that something untoward happened. This cannot be the case of another glitch.
“The unsigned and undated statement issued purportedly by a senior counsel on behalf of the Tinubu Legal Team is misconceived and empty. The senior counsel claimed that the header is a watermark! It is not and can never be.
“Typically, a watermark is a faint imprint or design made on some papers during production and which can be seen when held up to the light. It helps in checking the genuineness of the paper.
“We of the Labour Party place it on record that the counsel who collected the judgment on behalf of our party and our candidate did so long after a representative of Tinubu Legal Team.
“We call on the PEPC and APC to come clean on the CTC imprint and disclose whose imprimatur is inscribed on the entire judgment. Nigerians deserve the right to know and are demanding urgent answers.”
Chidi Odinkalu, SAN, a former chairman of Nigeria Human Rights Commission, reacted in his Twitter handle that the inscription was not a watermark as claimed by Tinubu Presidential Legal Team but a header. A header suggests that they are the makers of the document.
