The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 20 to rule on an application by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar seeking permission to amend his suit challenging President Bola Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the 2027 presidential election.
Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo fixed the date on Tuesday after hearing arguments from Atiku’s legal team and lawyers representing Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is seeking to amend the originating summons he filed alongside his party against Tinubu and the APC.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, counsel to Atiku, Joseph Silas Onu, urged the court to grant the application, arguing that the proposed amendments would enable the plaintiffs to present additional evidence in the certificate forgery case.
Atiku and the ADC filed the application on September 10, seeking permission to correct errors in their original suit and provide further details of their allegations against the President.
Among the proposed amendments is the correction of a reference to an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form, which the plaintiffs said was mistakenly identified as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9A.
They also sought to provide additional details of the alleged fraud, include a written deposition by Atiku and attach clearer copies of exhibits that were unavailable when the suit was initially filed.
However, Tinubu’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), opposed the application, arguing that the plaintiffs should not be permitted to alter their case after both parties had joined issues.
A former Attorney-General of the Federation, Akin Olujimi, who represented the APC, also urged the court to reject the request.
Similarly, another SAN, Dr Alex Izinyon, opposed the application and asked the court to dismiss it and proceed to hear the substantive suit.
After listening to the arguments, Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter until November 20 for a ruling on whether the proposed amendments should be allowed.
Atiku and the ADC filed the substantive suit seeking to disqualify Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential election over the President’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate submitted to INEC.
The plaintiffs alleged that the certificate submitted by the APC to the electoral commission was forged, claiming that the document bore the name Bola Adekunle rather than Bola Tinubu, the name by which the President is widely known.
They asked the court to direct INEC to remove Tinubu and the APC from the list of candidates and political parties for the 2027 election.
Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegations and urged the court to dismiss the suit.
The President’s legal team also argued that the proposed amendments went beyond correcting errors, claiming that they would introduce new facts, documents and reliefs into the case.
Tinubu’s lawyers further contended that the suit was statute-barred, arguing that the cause of action arose on July 11, when his name was submitted to INEC, while Atiku and the ADC filed their case on August 14.
INEC also opposed the amendment application, maintaining that it would introduce a new cause of action and attempt to correct defects in the original suit after the constitutional deadline for filing pre-election cases had expired.
