By Eshioromeh Sebastian
The Federal High Court in Abuja will on November 20 deliver its ruling on whether former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar can amend the suit seeking to bar President Bola Tinubu from contesting the 2027 presidential election over an alleged certificate forgery.
Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo fixed the date on Tuesday after listening to submissions from Atiku’s legal team and lawyers for Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC), who are pushing back against the proposed changes.
Atiku and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) had on September 10 filed an application seeking to tweak their originating summons. Their counsel, Joseph Onu, told the court that the amendments were necessary to allow the former vice-president present fresh evidence and fix certain errors in the original filing.
Among the changes sought are a correction to a reference made to an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form, expanded details of the alleged fraud, the inclusion of a written deposition by Atiku himself, and the submission of clearer copies of exhibits that were not available when the case was first filed.
But Tinubu’s lead lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, strongly opposed the move, telling the court that the parties had already joined issues and that it was too late for Atiku to reshape his case. He submitted that the former vice-president could not “shift the goal post in the middle of the game.”
The APC, represented by former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Akin Olujimi, SAN, also kicked against the application, as did another senior lawyer, Alex Izinyon, SAN, who urged the court to dismiss the request and move on to the main suit.
At the heart of the substantive case is Atiku and the ADC’s claim that the NYSC discharge certificate Tinubu presented to INEC carries the name ‘Bola Adekunle’. The plaintiffs are asking the court to disqualify Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential race and to order INEC to strike them off its list of candidates and parties.
Tinubu and his party have denied the allegation, asking the court to throw out the suit. Their lawyers argued that the amendments Atiku seeks would smuggle in new reliefs, documents and facts rather than simply correct mistakes in the original filing.
INEC also opposed the application, arguing that the changes would introduce a fresh cause of action after the constitutional window for filing pre-election cases had closed. Tinubu’s legal team further contended that the suit was statute-barred, noting that the cause of action arose on July 11 when his name was submitted to INEC, while the case was only filed on August 14.
Justice Ekwo will now decide on November 20 whether Atiku and the ADC can amend their originating summons before the court proceeds to hear the substantive dispute over Tinubu’s eligibility for the 2027 presidential election.
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