The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to throw out a lawsuit filed by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) seeking to disqualify President Bola Tinubu over allegations of submitting a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
In its counter-affidavit filed through a legal team led by Dr. Alex Izinyon, SAN, the electoral body argued that the legal challenge represents a gross abuse of the judicial process. INEC maintained that the plaintiffs lacked the necessary legal standing to bring the suit and characterized the issues raised as purely hypothetical and academic.
While avoiding any direct stance on the authenticity of President Tinubu’s educational credentials, INEC clarified its administrative role as an electoral umpire. The commission explained that it does not manufacture, originate, or verify the authenticity of every personal certificate submitted by candidates or their political parties. According to INEC, merely receiving candidate documents does not equate to an official administrative or judicial determination of their validity. Furthermore, the commission stated that a constitutional disqualification under section 137(1)(j) requires actual proof in a court of law that a forged certificate was presented, rather than relying on unproven allegations.
The legal battle stems from a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1888/2026, where President Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and INEC are listed as defendants. In a supporting affidavit, Atiku claimed that President Tinubu provided false information on Form CF0001 by submitting an NYSC discharge certificate bearing the name "Tinubu Bola Adekunle," which the plaintiffs allege belongs to someone else and has been fraudulently paraded since Tinubu's 1999 Lagos State governorship race.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to interpret constitutional and electoral provisions to determine whether candidates who allegedly present forged certificates should be barred from contesting elections. They are specifically seeking a court declaration that President Tinubu presented a forged certificate in 1999 and an order disqualifying both the President and his party from participating in the upcoming 2027 presidential election. Justice Inyang Ekwo has scheduled September 28 for further proceedings on the matter.