Court Grants Atiku Permission To Serve Tinubu In 2027 Eligibility Case

The Federal High Court in Abuja, has granted former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar permission to serve President Bola Tinubu with court documents in a suit seeking to challenge his eligibility to contest the 2027 presidential election through the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Justice Inyang Ekwo granted the application on Wednesday, while ruling on an ex parte motion filed by Atiku and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Atiku’s counsel, O.T. Omotayo-Ojo, told the court that the application became necessary because efforts to personally serve Tinubu with the originating processes have been unsuccessful.

The judge consequently ordered that the documents be served on Tinubu through the APC, with the plaintiffs given seven days to effect the service.

Justice Ekwo thereafter adjourned the case until September 28 for mention.

Atiku and the ADC are asking the court to disqualify Tinubu and the APC from participating in the 2027 presidential election over an allegation that a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate was submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1888/2026, has Tinubu, APC and INEC as the first to third defendants, respectively.

The plaintiffs are also asking the court to direct INEC to remove Tinubu’s and APC’s names from the list of candidates and political parties for the presidential election if the court finds their allegations established.

The dispute centres on an NYSC discharge certificate which Atiku and ADC allege was forged and submitted to INEC.

The plaintiffs are relying, among other provisions, on the constitutional provision dealing with disqualification arising from the presentation of a forged certificate to the electoral commission.

However, Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegations and asked the court to dismiss the suit.

In a joint counter-affidavit filed on September 9, the president and the APC denied submitting any forged certificate to INEC for either the 2023 or 2027 presidential elections.

They also maintained that Tinubu did not submit the Form CF001 to INEC as alleged by Atiku and ADC and argued that the NYSC had never disowned the discharge certificate issued to the president.

Their counsel, former Attorney-General of the Federation, Akin Olujinmi (SAN), argued that an allegation of forgery, being criminal in nature, must be established beyond reasonable doubt.

Olujinmi further argued that Atiku and ADC had failed to produce evidence from the NYSC disclaiming the issuance of the certificate or documents establishing that the certificate was forged.

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He described the suit as incompetent and argued that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to challenge Tinubu’s candidacy.

The lawyer urged the court to uphold the defendants’ preliminary objection and dismiss the case.

INEC has also challenged the suit, raising objections including statute-bar, lack of locus standi, absence of a reasonable cause of action and alleged abuse of court process.

The electoral commission also argued that the plaintiffs failed to comply with provisions of the Federal High Court Pre-Election Practice Directions and challenged some of the reliefs sought by Atiku and the ADC.