The Presidential Election Petitions Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday dismissed the allegation that President Bola Tinubu was convicted of drug-related charges in the United States of America.

The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani held that the Labour Party and its candidate, Peter Obi failed to produce evidence that Tinubu was convicted in US.

He said, “The petitioners failed to show evidence that the president was detained or convicted for any particular offence as alleged by the petitioners.”

Tsammani held that contrary to the contention of the Petitioners, the case, was a civil forfeiture proceeding against funds that were in the bank and not an action that was against Tinubu as a person.

He described such civil forfeiture proceeding as a unique remedy that is targeted at a property and not the owner.

“The court further noted that following a letter the Inspector General of Police wrote in 2003, the American Embassy, confirmed that there was no criminal record against Tinubu in its centralized information center.

It held that both the letter from the IGP and the response from the US Embassy, were public documents that are admissible in evidence.

The Petitioners had among other things, challenged Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the presidential election, alleging that he was previously indicted and fined the sum of $460,000.00 by the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Case No: 93C 4483, for an offence involving dishonesty and drug trafficking.

They contended that such indictment, constituted a ground for disqualification under section 137 (1) (d) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.”