Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has mounted November 20 to rule on whether or not former Vice President Atiku Abubakar can amend his go well with looking for to cease President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) from collaborating within the 2027 presidential election.
The decide mounted the date on Tuesday after Atiku sought to amend his claims in opposition to Tinubu and the APC.
Atiku is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) within the January 16, 2027 election.
Counsel to Atiku, Joseph Silas Onu, adopted his utility in the course of the proceedings, looking for the courtroom’s permission to amend the originating summons in opposition to Tinubu and the APC to accommodate extra allegations.
He mentioned the proposed modification was supposed to allow the plaintiff to current additional proof in opposition to Tinubu and his social gathering within the certificates forgery dispute.
On September 10, Atiku and the ADC filed an utility looking for go away to amend their originating summons and have the proposed amended processes deemed correctly filed.
They mentioned they’d found errors within the unique go well with, together with the reference to an INEC type as Form CF001 as a substitute of Form EC9A.
They additionally argued that the modification was vital to offer particulars of the alleged fraud, embrace a written deposition by Atiku and fasten clearer copies of displays that had been unavailable when the go well with was filed.
However, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, counsel to Tinubu, opposed the applying, arguing that since each events had joined points, the previous vp couldn’t shift the goalposts in the midst of the sport.
A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Akin Olujimi, SAN, who represented the APC, additionally opposed the applying on comparable grounds and urged the decide to reject the request.
Legal luminary Dr Alex Izinyon additionally urged Justice Ekwo to dismiss the applying and proceed to listen to the substantive go well with.
After listening to arguments from the events, Justice Ekwo mounted November 20 to ship his ruling on the applying.
Atiku and the ADC had filed the substantive go well with looking for the disqualification of Tinubu and the APC from the 2027 presidential election over the President’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificates submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They alleged that the NYSC discharge certificates submitted by the APC to INEC was cast and requested the courtroom to order the electoral fee to take away Tinubu and the APC from the record of candidates and political events for the election.
Their principal argument was that the NYSC discharge certificates introduced by Tinubu bears the identify Bola Adekunle quite than his broadly recognized identify, Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegation and urged the courtroom to dismiss the go well with.
Tinubu additionally opposed the modification utility, arguing that the proposed adjustments went past correcting errors and would introduce new reliefs, paperwork and info into the case.
The President’s authorized staff additional argued that the substantive go well with was statute-barred, contending that the reason for motion arose on July 11, when Tinubu’s identify was submitted to INEC, whereas the go well with was not filed till August 14.
INEC additionally opposed the modification, arguing that it could introduce a brand new reason behind motion and try and remedy defects within the unique go well with after the constitutional deadline for submitting pre-election circumstances had expired.
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