The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled November 20 for a ruling on a motion filed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, to amend his suit against President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress. Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date after Atiku's counsel, Mr Joseph Silas, and defence lawyers adopted their processes and presented their arguments for and against the application.
Atiku and ADC had, in the main suit, urged Justice Ekwo to disqualify President Tinubu and APC from the 2027 presidential election. They questioned Tinubu's National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission by APC. The plaintiffs alleged that APC submitted the president's forged NYSC discharge certificate to INEC.
The plaintiffs, who sued the president, APC and INEC as 1st to 3rd defendants in the originating summons marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1888/2026, prayed the court to compel INEC to remove Tinubu and APC's names from the list of candidates and parties for the 2027 presidential poll. However, after the defendants filed their counter affidavits, Atiku and APC approached the court to seek an order to amend the suit.
When the case was called, Silas informed the court that the matter was scheduled for hearing of the motion for amendment of their originating summons. Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, who appeared for President Tinubu; APC's lawyer, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, and Mr Alex Izinyon, SAN, counsel to INEC, told the court they were ready to proceed with the hearing.
Moving the motion to amend the suit, Silas said the application was dated Sept. 4 and filed on September 10. He said upon being served with the defendants' respective counter affidavits to their application for amendment, they responded through a reply on points of law. The lawyer prayed the court to grant their reliefs.
Responding, Olanipekun, in opposition to Silas' submission, said a counter affidavit of nine paragraphs was filed on President's behalf on September 24. He argued that Atiku's application was statute-barred and urged the court to dismiss it. Olujinmi and Izinyon also backed Olanipekun's arguments, praying the court to dismiss the plaintiffs' request.
President Tinubu and APC, in their joint counter affidavit filed on Sept. 9 to the originating summons, 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.
Key points
- The court will rule on Atiku's motion to amend his suit against Tinubu and APC on November 20.
- Atiku is seeking to amend his suit to correct errors in the originating summons.
- The defendants have opposed the motion, arguing that it is statute-barred and lacks merit.
