Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, adjourned till November 20 for ruling in a motion by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar requesting to amend his suit challenging the eligibility of President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 presidential election.
Ekwo adjourned to the said date after listening to Atiku and Tinubu’s lawyers argue for and against the granting of the motion.
At yesterday’s proceedings, Joseph Onu, who stood for Atiku, adopted his application, praying for permission of the court to amend the originating summons against Tinubu and his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), to accommodate more allegations.
Onu explained that the amendment being sought was to allow the plaintiff to produce more evidence against Tinubu and his party in the certificate forgery allegations.
Atiku and his party, African Democratic Congress (ADC), had on September 10 brought an application seeking leave to amend their originating summons and have the proposed amended process deemed properly filed.
They said they discovered errors in the original suit, including referring to a form of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9A.
The plaintiffs added that the amendment was necessary to set out the 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, who represented Tinubu, opposed the request for amendment, arguing that since both parties have joined issues in the matter, Atiku cannot shift the goal post in the middle of the game.
Similarly, APC, represented by former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Akin Olujimi, SAN, opposed Atiku on the same ground and urged the judge to reject the bid.
Counsel to INEC, Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, also urged the court to reject the amendment request and proceed to the substantive matter.
Ekwo after listening to all sides announced November 20, to rule on the application.
The plaintiffs in the main suit are seeking the disqualification of Tinubu and APC from the 2027 presidential election, over the president’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate submitted to INEC for purposes of the presidential poll.
They alleged that APC submitted a forged NYSC discharge certificate to INEC and asked the court to order the electoral commission to remove Tinubu and APC from the list of candidates and parties for the election.
The main grouse of Atiku and ADC was that the NYSC discharge certificate presented by Tinubu bore Bola Adekunle as against the well-known name Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu and APC denied the allegation and asked the court to dismiss the suit.
Tinubu opposed the application, arguing that the proposed amendments went beyond correcting errors and would introduce new reliefs, documents, and facts into the case.
The president’s legal team also argued that the substantive suit was statute-barred, contending that the cause of action arose when Tinubu’s name was submitted to INEC on July 11, while the suit was filed on August 14.
INEC also opposed the amendment, arguing that it would introduce a new cause of action and seek to cure defects in the original suit after the constitutional deadline for filing pre-election cases had lapsed.