Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has dragged President Bola Tinubu before the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking his disqualification from the 2027 presidential election over an alleged forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
The development came as a legal counsel and chieftain of the ADC, Kalu Agu, separately submitted a petition against Tinubu to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, alleging that the President submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The two actions took place on Friday, with Atiku personally appearing at the Federal High Court registry in Abuja to depose to an affidavit in support of the suit filed against Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and INEC.
The suit invokes Sections 137(1)(j), 139(1)(a)(i) and 285(14)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
At the centre of the case is Section 137(1)(j), which provides that a person is not qualified to be elected President if he has presented a forged certificate to INEC.
Atiku and the ADC are asking the court to determine whether Tinubu should be disqualified from contesting the 2027 presidential election over the allegation that he submitted a forged NYSC certificate in connection with his presidential candidacy.
According to Atiku’s affidavit, the NYSC discharge certificate allegedly submitted to INEC bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle”, rather than the President’s name, “Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
The plaintiffs further alleged that the certificate was not obtained by Tinubu but was nevertheless submitted in connection with the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku is also asking the court to compel INEC to produce Tinubu’s Form CF001 submitted in connection with the 2023 and 2027 presidential elections.
The former vice president said he had previously requested Certified True Copies of the relevant documents from INEC but had not received them before commencing the action.
Explaining his decision to personally appear at the court registry, Atiku said the matter was too important to be handled casually.
“I came here personally because the issues before the court go to the heart of our Constitution and the integrity of the office of President.
“I have therefore put my name, my signature and my oath behind the facts we are presenting to the court. Now it is President Tinubu’s turn to answer them,” he said.
Atiku said the case would not be determined through political arguments or social media exchanges but through evidence presented before the judiciary.
“We are not asking Nigerians to decide this matter on social media, and we are not asking INEC to become a court.
“We are asking the institution holding the records to produce them and the judiciary to examine the evidence and pronounce on it,” he said.
The ADC presidential candidate also questioned whether the names appearing on the disputed certificate could legitimately be attributed to Tinubu.
Among the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs is an order disqualifying Tinubu and the APC from participating in the 2027 presidential election if the allegations are established.
Atiku argued that the authenticity of certificates submitted by presidential candidates should be subject to the same standard applicable to every Nigerian.
“The presidency is not an immunity certificate against constitutional scrutiny,” he said.
He also called on INEC to demonstrate its neutrality by producing the relevant electoral records.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Edwin Inegedu, SAN, and Joseph Onu Silas, expressed confidence in the case.
However, the APC dismissed the suit as an exercise in futility and urged Atiku to prepare for the 2027 election instead.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, said the President was qualified to contest the election and that the issue had already been settled by the Supreme Court.
“Atiku should go and brace for another defeat in the general election. The President is qualified to contest the election; there is nothing disqualifying him, and the matter has been settled by the Supreme Court,” Basiru said.
He accused Atiku of seeking a shortcut to power, arguing that the ADC candidate should instead focus on mobilising voters for the election.
“Atiku has nothing to offer Nigerians, and he knows that he will be rejected at the poll. That is why he is looking for a shortcut. But there’s no shortcut to power,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Brussels, Agu submitted his petition to the European Commission, asking the European Union to intervene over what he described as an alleged subversion of constitutional order in Nigeria.
Agu was captured in a video shared on X on Friday by Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media aide, while submitting the petition.
He alleged that Tinubu presented false academic credentials to INEC as part of the constitutional requirements for the 2027 election.
According to Agu, Tinubu also allegedly failed to disclose the primary and secondary schools he attended in documents submitted to INEC.
He argued that the alleged submission of forged certificates contravened Section 137(1)(j) of the 1999 Constitution.
“This is in flagrant violation of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, particularly Section 137(1)(j), which says that if you have presented a forged certificate to INEC, you will not be qualified to run for election,” Agu said.
However, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communications, Daniel Bwala, dismissed the EU petition as a distraction by the opposition.
“The opposition is on a wild goose chase in Europe. They would do everything possible to distract and avoid answering the very one question: What would you do differently from this government?” Bwala wrote on X on Friday.
