Court fixes Nov 20 to rule on Atiku’s bid to amend NYSC certificate forgery suit against Tinubu

Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 20 to rule on whether former Vice President Atiku Abubakar can amend his suit seeking to stop President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) from participating in the 2027 presidential election.

The judge fixed the date on Tuesday after Atiku sought to amend his claims against Tinubu and the APC.

Atiku is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the January 16, 2027 election.

Counsel to Atiku, Joseph Silas Onu, adopted his application during the proceedings, seeking the court’s permission to amend the originating summons against Tinubu and the APC to accommodate additional allegations.

He said the proposed amendment was intended to enable the plaintiff to present further evidence against Tinubu and his party in the certificate forgery dispute.

On September 10, Atiku and the ADC filed an application seeking leave to amend their originating summons and have the proposed amended processes deemed properly filed.

They said they had discovered errors in the original suit, including the reference to an INEC form as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9A.

They also argued that the amendment was necessary to provide particulars of the alleged fraud, include a written deposition by Atiku and attach clearer copies of exhibits that were unavailable when the suit was filed.

However, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, counsel to Tinubu, opposed the application, arguing that since both parties had joined issues, the former vice president could not shift the goalposts in the middle of the game.

A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Akin Olujimi, SAN, who represented the APC, also opposed the application on similar grounds and urged the judge to reject the request.

Legal luminary Dr Alex Izinyon also urged Justice Ekwo to dismiss the application and proceed to hear the substantive suit.

After hearing arguments from the parties, Justice Ekwo fixed November 20 to deliver his ruling on the application.

Atiku and the ADC had filed the substantive suit seeking the disqualification of Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential election over the President’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They alleged that the NYSC discharge certificate submitted by the APC to INEC was forged and asked the court to order the electoral commission to remove Tinubu and the APC from the list of candidates and political parties for the election.

Their principal argument was that the NYSC discharge certificate presented by Tinubu bears the name Bola Adekunle rather than his widely known name, Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegation and urged the court to dismiss the suit.

Tinubu also opposed the amendment application, arguing that the proposed changes went beyond correcting errors and would introduce new reliefs, documents and facts into the case.

The President’s legal team further argued that the substantive suit was statute-barred, contending that the cause of action arose on July 11, when Tinubu’s name was submitted to INEC, while the suit was not filed until August 14.

INEC also opposed the amendment, arguing that it would introduce a new cause of action and attempt to cure defects in the original suit after the constitutional deadline for filing pre-election cases had expired.