Tinubu’s Legal Team Addresses Controversial Watermark On Presidential Tribunal’s Judgement

In response to growing speculation surrounding the watermark found on the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal’s (PEPT) judgement, the Tinubu Presidential Legal Team (TPLT) has finally broken its silence.

The team’s coordinator, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), issued a statement on Saturday, September 9, 2023, clarifying the situation and dismissing any claims of impropriety.

Critics had raised concerns that the presence of the watermark indicated premeditated tampering that favored Tinubu’s case.

However, Ogala’s statement refuted these allegations, asserting that there was nothing abnormal or suspicious about the watermark.

The TPLT’s decision to address the controversy directly aims to put an end to the circulating speculations and restore confidence in the integrity of the judgement.

It explained: “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 is has become necessary to offer this clarification.

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“After the delivery of judgment in the 3 (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.

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“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.”.