RismadarVoice Reporters
September 11, 2026
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has opposed an attempt by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to amend their lawsuit seeking the disqualification of President Bola Tinubu from the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku and the ADC filed the case at the Federal High Court in Abuja, alleging that a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate was submitted to INEC on behalf of Tinubu.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to order INEC to remove Tinubu and the APC from the list of candidates and parties for the 2027 presidential election.
However, in a preliminary objection filed on September 7 through its counsel, Dr Alex Izinyon, SAN, INEC challenged the competence of the suit.
The commission argued that the case was statute-barred, lacked a reasonable cause of action, and amounted to an abuse of court process. It also alleged that the plaintiffs failed to comply with mandatory written deposition requirements under the Federal High Court Pre-Election Practice Directions (Amendment) 2026.
Tinubu and the APC also asked the court to dismiss the suit in their joint counter-affidavit filed on September 9.
They denied submitting any forged certificate to INEC for either the 2023 or 2027 elections and maintained that they did not submit Form CF001 to the commission for either election as alleged.
The President and APC further argued that the NYSC has never denied issuing Tinubu a discharge certificate after his service.
