Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday granted permission to a civil group, the Incorporated Trustees of the Center for Reform and Public Advocacy, to seek an order of mandamus compelling the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba, to prosecute APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu for alleged perjury.
The group received permission after arguing an ex-parte application through its lawyer, Mr Ugo Nwofor.
The group had petitioned the police over an alleged act of perjury by the former governor of Lagos State, but he has yet to carry out his duty of investigating and prosecuting reported crime, as in the Tinubu case, since the defendants received its letter several weeks ago.
The court determined in a ruling that the ex-parte application was meritorious and granted it, setting November 1 as the date for hearing on the substantive suit.
The Nigerian Police Force and the Inspector General of Police are named as the first and second respondents in the group’s main suit, which was filed on July 4.
According to the NGO, the legal action was prompted by the IGP’s refusal to act on its petition against Tinubu for an alleged offence committed by the Lagos State House of Assembly in 1999.
In its petition to the IG, the applicant claimed that Tinubu lied under oath on form CF 001, which he submitted to INEC in order to qualify for the governorship election in Lagos State in 1999.
Tinubu “forged all the educational certificates he listed in his INEC Form CF 001, which he admitted he did not possess in Annexure C,” according to the applicant.
To be clear, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu testified under oath in the said INEC Form that he attended Government College, Ibadan, and the University of Chicago in the United States, when he did not.
“In light of the express findings of the Lagos State House of Assembly as captured above, we respectfully request that you initiate criminal proceedings against Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The investigation of Tinubu is viewed as a major setback for the APC presidential candidate, who is facing several charges of perjury, which means he made false statements under oath. He was also accused of drug dealing in the 1990s in the United States, for which he allegedly forfeited nearly $500,000 to the US government.
