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From Godwin Tsa, , Abuja
The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 20 to rule on an application by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar seeking to amend his suit for the disqualification of President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the 2027 presidential election over alleged forgery of a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.
Justice Inyang Ekwo fixed the date on Tuesday after hearing arguments from Atiku and the African Democratic Congress (ADC), on the one hand, and Tinubu, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the other.
Atiku and the ADC are seeking leave to amend their originating summons to introduce additional particulars, documents and evidence in support of their case against Tinubu and the APC.
At the proceedings, Atiku’s lawyer, Joseph Silas Onu, adopted the application and urged the court to grant leave for the amendment.
He argued that the proposed changes would enable the plaintiffs to correct errors in the original processes and place further material before the court in support of the alleged certificate forgery.
Atiku and the ADC had, on September 10, filed the application seeking leave to amend the originating summons and for the proposed amended process to be deemed properly filed.
They told the court that errors were discovered in the original suit, including the description of an INEC form as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9A.
They also said the amendment was necessary to provide particulars of the alleged fraud, include a written deposition by Atiku and attach clearer copies of exhibits which were unavailable when the suit was instituted.
Tinubu, the APC and INEC, however, opposed the application, contending that the proposed amendment would fundamentally alter the case after parties had already joined issues.
Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, argued that the plaintiffs could not be allowed to “shift the goalposts” midway into the proceedings.
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His legal team maintained that the proposed amendments went beyond correcting errors and would introduce new reliefs, documents and facts into the case.
They also challenged the competence of the substantive suit on the ground that it was statute-barred.
According to Tinubu’s lawyers, the cause of action arose on July 11, when his name was submitted to INEC, while the suit was not filed until August 14.
Counsel to the APC, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, similarly urged the court to reject the application.
Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, also opposed the amendment and asked Justice Ekwo to dismiss the request and proceed with the substantive matter.
INEC equally objected, arguing that the amendment would introduce a new cause of action and attempt to cure defects in the original suit after the constitutional time limit for filing pre-election cases had expired.
In the substantive action, Atiku and the ADC are asking the court to disqualify Tinubu and the APC from participating in the 2027 presidential election over the NYSC discharge certificate submitted to INEC.
They alleged that the certificate was forged and asked the court to direct INEC to remove Tinubu and the APC from the list of candidates and political parties for the election.
A central plank of their allegation is that the certificate bears the name “Bola Adekunle” rather than the name by which Tinubu is publicly known.
Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegation and asked the court to dismiss the suit.
After hearing the parties, Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter until November 20 for ruling on the application to amend the suit.
