Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside a subpoena compelling it to produce documents relating to President Bola Tinubu’s 1999 Lagos State governorship election and 2023 presidential election.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, filed the application seeking to nullify the subpoena issued on October 26 in the ongoing cyberbullying trial of African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.
In the application filed through his counsel, Alex Izinyon, SAN, Amupitan is asking the court to declare the subpoena “void, unenforceable and contradictory.”
The application argues that the subpoena was not personally served on the INEC chairman as required by law. It also maintains that the documents being requested are either incorrectly described or do not exist in the specified form.
INEC’s lawyers further contend that the subpoena is irrelevant to the criminal proceedings against Sowore and was issued in “bad faith.”
One of the grounds of the application states, “The subpoena Duces Tecum dated 6/11/2026 as constituted is void ab initio, ungrantable, inconsistent and contradictory.”
The documents Sowore wants INEC to produce are “INEC Form CF01 (inclusive of the ‘AFFIDAVIT IN RESPECT OF LOST CERTIFICATES’) of candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu as candidate for Lagos State Governorship in the Year 1999; and INEC Form CF01 of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as candidate for the 2023 Presidential election.”
However, the INEC chairman argues that the electoral commission does not have the requested documents in its custody.
“There is no form known as INEC CF01 for the Lagos State Governorship Election 1999 and INEC Form CF01 for the 2023 Presidential Election as such form as described are unknown and are not in the custody of the Applicant,” the application states.
In an affidavit supporting the motion on notice, INEC describes the subpoena seeking the documents as “bad faith, irrelevant, fishy and speculative.”
The commission’s legal team also argues that the subpoena was intended to embarrass the electoral body and that the requested documents have no direct bearing on the allegations against Sowore.
The affidavit further notes that “there is a criminal prosecution between the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the Complainant and Omoyele Sowore as Defendant.”
It adds that “the Applicant (INEC Chairman) is not a party to the criminal prosecutions.”
Meanwhile, Justice Mohammed Umar has fixed November 17 for the continuation of Sowore’s cyberbullying trial.
Wednesday’s proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja stalled following the judge’s absence due to a cold.
Apart from the INEC chairman, the court had on Monday granted an application by Sowore’s defence team for a subpoena compelling All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Joe Igbokwe, to appear as a defence witness.
The defence intends to cross-examine Igbokwe over his public statements and reactions following Sowore’s social media posts in which he referred to President Tinubu as a criminal. Arise News
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