The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday ordered that President Bola Tinubu be served within seven days with a suit seeking to stop him from contesting the 2027 presidential election over allegations that he submitted forged certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling, approved substituted service of the legal processes on Tinubu through his political party, the All Progressives Congress.
The order followed a motion moved by Atiku Abubakar’s lawyer, Olanrewaju Omotayo-Ojo, who appeared in place of Silas Onu, said to be bereaved.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1888/2026, was filed by former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar. The ADC is joined as the second plaintiff, while Tinubu, the APC and INEC are listed as the first to third defendants respectively.
In a 25-paragraph affidavit personally deposed to in support of the suit, Atiku alleged that Tinubu submitted a purported National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate to INEC in support of his qualification for the presidency.
Atiku alleged that the certificate bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle” and claimed it did not belong to the President. He further alleged that the certificate was still in INEC’s custody and had been presented to the electoral body as genuine.
According to Atiku, Tinubu had been parading the alleged forged certificate since 1999, when he contested the Lagos State governorship election.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to determine whether Tinubu and the APC should be disqualified from participating in the 2027 presidential election for allegedly presenting the certificate to INEC, relying on Section 137(1)(j) of the 1999 Constitution.
They are also seeking a declaration that Tinubu breached the constitutional provision by allegedly presenting the certificate when he contested the Lagos governorship election in 1999, as well as an order disqualifying him and the APC from the 2027 presidential election.
The court had earlier fixed September 28 for the commencement of the substantive hearing. INEC has filed processes challenging the competence of the suit and urged the court to dismiss it.
Meanwhile, two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Chief Akin Olujinmi and Chief Wole Olanipekun, have separately filed processes indicating that they represent Tinubu in the matter. Both lawyers challenged the competence of the suit and Atiku’s locus standi to question the credentials submitted by Tinubu to INEC.
Olujinmi argued in a counter-affidavit filed on Tinubu’s behalf that the case is statute-barred, contending that the certificates were submitted to INEC before August 1 and that the 14-day period allowed for such litigation had elapsed. He also argued that Atiku, being a member of the ADC, had no legal right to challenge an action involving the APC.
Olanipekun, who also identified himself as Tinubu’s lawyer, filed a preliminary objection and counter-affidavit seeking dismissal of the suit, which he described as incompetent and an abuse of court process.
In a letter dated September 10 and addressed to the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court, Olanipekun said Tinubu had briefed him to lead a team of counsel to represent and defend his interests in the case.
He complained that Tinubu had yet to be served with the originating processes, despite the President instructing his legal team to appear when the matter came up for mention on September 1. According to the letter, Prince Omosanya Popoola, SAN, appeared in court on Tinubu’s behalf and sought to collect copies of the processes filed by the plaintiffs.
Olanipekun subsequently asked the court to provide the service copy of the originating processes or certified true copies to enable Tinubu’s legal team to respond to the suit.
The plaintiffs have also applied to amend parts of the suit, including the name of the INEC form to which the alleged certificate was attached. They said the form was wrongly referred to as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9.
