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The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 20 to rule on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s application to amend his suit seeking President Bola Tinubu’s disqualification from the 2027 presidential election over an alleged certificate forgery.
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), who opposed the proposed amendments.
Atiku’s counsel, Joseph Onu, urged the court to grant the application, arguing that the changes would allow his client to present additional evidence and correct errors in the original suit. Atiku and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) filed the application on September 10.
The proposed amendments include correcting a reference to an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form, providing further details of the alleged fraud, adding a written deposition by Atiku and submitting clearer copies of exhibits that were unavailable when the case was first filed.
However, Tinubu’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, SAN, urged the court to reject the request, arguing that the parties had already joined issues and that Atiku should not be permitted to change his case at this stage. He said the former vice-president could not “shift the goal post 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. Another senior lawyer, Alex Izinyon, SAN, adopted the same position, urging the court to dismiss the request and proceed to the substantive case.
The main suit, filed by Atiku and the ADC, seeks an order disqualifying Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential election. The plaintiffs allege that the NYSC discharge certificate Tinubu submitted to INEC bears the name ‘Bola Adekunle’. They want the court to direct INEC to remove Tinubu and the APC from its list of candidates and parties for the election.
Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegation and asked the court to dismiss the suit. Their legal team also argued that the proposed amendments would introduce new reliefs, documents and facts rather than merely correct errors in the original filing.
INEC opposed the application, contending that the amendments would introduce a new cause of action after the constitutional deadline for filing pre-election cases had expired. Tinubu’s lawyers further argued that the suit was statute-barred because the cause of action arose when his name was submitted to INEC on July 11, while the case was filed on August 14.
Justice Ekwo is expected to determine on November 20 whether Atiku and the ADC can amend their originating summons before the court proceeds with the substantive dispute over Tinubu’s eligibility for the 2027 presidential election.
