The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has moved against an attempt by former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to amend their suit seeking the disqualification of President Bola Tinubu from the 2027 presidential election.
The presidential candidate of ADC and his party, filed the suit in the Federal High Court in Abuja, questioning President Tinubu’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate submitted to INEC by APC.
The plaintiffs , Alhaji Atiku and ADC, in the suit, urged Justice Inyang Ekwo to disqualify President Tinubu and APC from contesting in the 2027 presidential election over alleged submission of forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate to INEC.
According to reports, the plaintiffs, who sued the president and APC as 1st and 2nd defendants, also joined INEC as 3rd defendant in the originating summons marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1888/2026.
They prayed the court to compel INEC to remove Tinubu and APC’s names from the list of candidates and parties for the presidential poll.
But INEC, in its preliminary objection filed on Sept. 7 by its lawyer, Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, challenged the competence of the suit on the grounds of statute-bar, want of locus standi, absence of a reasonable cause of action and abuse of court process.
The commission also argued that the plaintiffs failed to comply with the mandatory written deposition requirement under Paragraph 7(1) provision of the Federal High Court Pre-Election Practice Directions (Amendment) 2026.
The electoral umpire equally challenged the impropriety of Reliefs 2 and 3 in Atiku and ADC’s originating summons, urging the court to dismiss the suit.
Also, President Tinubu and APC, in their joint counter affidavit filed on Sept. 9, prayed the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety for being incompetent and that the plaintiffs lacked the legal right to Institute the case.
They denied submitting any forged certificate to INEC either for the 2023 or 2027 presidential elections.
The duo, through the APC Director of Legal Services, Mr Sanusi Samaila, averred that they did not submit any Form CF001 to INEC for 2023 or 2027 poll as claimed by the plaintiffs.
They stated that the NYSC has never denied issuing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate to the 1st defendant at the end of his service year.
They submitted that it was a settled law that the evidence required to prove that a certificate is forged is a disclaimer from the institution that is said to have issued the certificate, citing a previous Supreme Court decision to back their argument.
They urged the court to uphold their preliminary objection and dismiss the suit.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Atiku and ADC, in a motion on notice brought pursuant to Paragraph 7(8) of the FHC (Pre-election) Practice Directions, 2006 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court, seeking an amendment to the suit.
In the two reliefs, they sought an order granting leave to them to amend their originating summons.
They also prayed the court for an order deeming the amended originating summons filed upon their application, as properly filed amended originating summons.
Giving four grounds why their application should be granted, the plaintiffs said they filed the suit on Aug. 14, seeking the reliefs contained in the originating summons.
Alhaji Atiku and ADC said that after filing the originating summons, they noticed a few errors, especially on the nomenclature of the INEC forms attached to their affidavit which was referred to as Form CF001, instead of the now Form EC9A.
They said there was also the need to specifically set out the particulars of the alleged fraud in their affidavit (which are already contained in the said affidavit), including a written deposition of the 1st plaintiff (Atiku) and attaching clearer copies of Exhibits referred to, but were not available with the plaintiffs as at the time of filing the suit.
