TheCable

A federal high court in Abuja has fixed October 12 to hear a suit seeking the disqualification of Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), from contesting the 2023 election.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/954/2022, Action Alliance (AA), a political party, alleged that Tinubu forged his University of Chicago certificate which he used to contest and win the Lagos state governorship election in 1999.

The suit, filed on June 21, has the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC and Tinubu as co-defendants.

The party also alleged that Tinubu’s claim of attending Government College, Ibadan is false.

The plaintiff contends that arising from the issues raised, Tinubu is not qualified to contest for the office of president.

They are praying the court for “a declaration that by virtue of Sections 224, 23 and 24 of the 1999 Constitution and the constitution of the APC, the office of the president of Nigeria is to be occupied by a man of integrity and impeccable character”.

Meanwhile, at the court session on Thursday, Tinubu was represented by Babatunde Ogala, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

In a preliminary objection, Tinubu through his lawyer submitted that the suit is statute-barred since it is predicated on events that happened in 1999.

However, counsel to Action Alliance, Ukpai Ukairo, informed the court that the defendant’s claim of the suit being statute barred would be adequately addressed in the subsequent proceedings.

While INEC sought for time to respond to the suit, the APC was not represented in court despite proof that a notice was served on the party.

Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, adjourned the matter to October 12 to enable parties in the suit to regularise their processes.