Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed November 20 to rule on whether the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar can be permitted to amend his suit
seeking to prohibit President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, from participating in the 2027 presidential election.
The judge fixed the date on Tuesday following the insistence of Atiku Abubakar, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to alter his claims against Tinubu and the vehement opposition against the bid by Tinubu and the APC.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Joseph Silas Onu, who stood for Atiku, adopted his application praying for permission of the court to amend the originating summons against Tinubu and the APC to accommodate more allegations.
The lawyer said that the aim of the amendment being sought was to allow the plaintiff to produce more evidence against Tinubu and his party in the certificate forgery battle.
On September 10, Atiku and the ADC filed the 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 an INEC form as Form CF001 instead of Form EC9A.
They also said the amendment was necessary to set out the particulars of the alleged fraud, including 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 kicked against Atiku’s bid, adding that since both parties have joined issues with each other, the former Vice President cannot shift the goal post in the middle of the game.
A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AGF, Akin Olujimi, SAN, who argued for the APC, also opposed Atiku on the same ground and urged the judge to reject the bid.
Similar position was canvassed by legal luminary, Dr Alex Izinyon in praying Justice Ekwo to dismiss the amendment request and proceed to the substantive matter.
Justice Ekwo after taking adoption of arguments announced November 20 to rule on the application.
Atiku and the ADC had filed the main suit seeking the disqualification of Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential election over the President’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They alleged that the APC submitted a forged NYSC discharge certificate to INEC and asked the court to order the electoral commission to remove Tinubu and the 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 bears Bola Adekunle as against the well known name- Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu and the APC have 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.
