Court fixes Nov 20 for ruling on Atiku’s forgery suit against Tinubu

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, fixed November 20, 2026, to rule on whether the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, can be permitted to amend his suit against the President, Bola Tinubu, over alleged certificate forgery.

The judge fixed the date following the insistence of the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to alter his claims against Tinubu, claiming the president forged his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.

Daily Trust reports that 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 of his name as Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu and the APC have denied the allegation and asked the court to dismiss the suit.

The President opposed the application, arguing that the proposed amendments went beyond correcting errors and would introduce new reliefs, documents and facts into the case.

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

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.

However, Wole Olanipekun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who represented Tinubu, kicked against Atiku’s application, adding that since both parties have joined issues with each other, the former Vice President cannot shift the goalpost in the middle of the game.

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 APC to accommodate more allegations.

Justice Inyang Ekwo announced November 20 to make his decision known in his ruling on the application.