The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 20 to decide whether former Vice President Atiku Abubakar can amend his suit seeking to bar President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) from participating in the 2027 presidential election.
Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo fixed the date on Tuesday after listening to arguments for and against the application, with Tinubu and the APC opposing Atiku’s attempt to alter his case.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is seeking permission to amend his originating summons to accommodate additional allegations and evidence in the dispute over Tinubu’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.
Counsel to Atiku, Joseph Silas Onu, urged the court to grant the application, arguing that the proposed amendments would enable his client to present further evidence in support of the suit.
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But Tinubu’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, vehemently opposed the request, arguing that the amendments went beyond correcting errors and would introduce new facts, documents and reliefs into the case.
Olanipekun maintained that the parties had already joined issues and that Atiku should not be allowed to change the terms of the dispute midway through the proceedings.
A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Akin Olujimi, SAN, who represented the APC, also urged the court to reject the application.
Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, equally opposed the request, asking Justice Ekwo to dismiss it and proceed to the substantive suit.
Atiku and the ADC filed the application on September 10, seeking leave to amend their originating summons and have the proposed amended process deemed properly filed.
They said the amendment was necessary to correct errors in the original suit, including the description of an INEC form as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9A.
The plaintiffs also sought to provide further particulars of the alleged fraud, include a written deposition by Atiku and attach clearer copies of exhibits that were unavailable when the suit was initially filed.
The main suit seeks the disqualification of Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential election over the President’s NYSC discharge certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Atiku and the ADC alleged that the certificate submitted by Tinubu was forged, claiming that it bears the name Bola Adekunle rather than his widely known name, Bola Tinubu.
They asked the court to direct INEC to remove Tinubu and the APC from the list of candidates and political parties for the election.
Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegations and urged the court to dismiss the suit.
In opposing the amendment, Tinubu’s legal team also argued that the substantive suit was statute-barred, contending that the cause of action arose on July 11, when his name was submitted to INEC, while the suit was filed on August 14.
INEC also opposed the application, arguing that the proposed amendments 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.
Justice Ekwo will rule on November 20 on whether Atiku and the ADC can proceed with the proposed amendments.
