INEC wants court to cancel order for Tinubu's election records

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to cancel a subpoena that orders its chairman, Joash Amupitan, to bring President Bola Tinubu’s records from the 1999 Lagos State governorship election and the 2023 presidential election.

In a motion filed on Tuesday, INEC said the subpoena was not valid. They argued that Mr Amupitan was not served properly and that the documents requested were not in their possession as described.

This application comes just before Mr Amupitan was supposed to appear in court on Wednesday as a subpoenaed defence witness in the criminal trial of human rights activist Omoyele Sowore.

The case, marked FHC/CR/484/2025, is before trial judge Mohammed Umar. Mr Sowore is being prosecuted by the State Security Service for calling Mr Tinubu a criminal in social media posts last year.

INEC, through its lawyer, Alex Izinyon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), asked the court to cancel the subpoena issued on 26 October. The motion was recorded at the court registry at 3.45 p.m. on Tuesday.

The subpoena, called Subpoena Duces Tecum, requires Mr Amupitan, who is also a professor, to bring two sets of documents that Mr Tinubu submitted to the electoral commission. These include the president’s Form CF001 for the 1999 Lagos governorship election, which includes an affidavit about lost certificates, and his nomination form for the 2023 presidential election.

The court also told the INEC chairman to testify for the defence and stay in court until the case is resolved.

According to The Guardian newspaper, a hearing notice was served on Mr Amupitan on Monday, 9 November, telling him to appear in court on Wednesday, 11 November.

In its application, INEC listed four reasons for asking the court to cancel the subpoena. They called the document “void ab initio, ungrantable, inconsistent and contradictory.”

INEC also said that Mr Amupitan was not personally served with the subpoena, as the law requires. Regarding the documents requested by the defence, INEC stated that there is no form known as INEC CF01 for either the 1999 Lagos governorship election or the 2023 presidential election.

They maintained that the forms mentioned in the subpoena were unknown to them and were not with their chairman. INEC also accused Mr Sowore’s defence team of bringing the application in bad faith, saying it was irrelevant and meant to embarrass the electoral body.

In an affidavit supporting the motion, Mendie Akpan, a litigation secretary in Mr Izinyon’s law firm, explained how the subpoena was received at INEC’s headquarters. Ms Akpan said the document was served on the commission’s Litigation and Prosecution Department at about 12.30 p.m. on 6 November.

She mentioned that the information was gathered during a call with Mr Izinyon at his Abuja office on 10 November, based on what they got from the INEC chairman. The affidavit stated that Mr Amupitan was not personally served with the subpoena on 6 November or any other time.

Ms Akpan also noted that the chairman was not involved in the criminal case between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Mr Sowore. She added that Mr Amupitan was not the creator of the documents and could not provide evidence about them.

The subpoena followed a request by Mr Sowore’s defence team, led by Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, also a SAN, seeking to make relevant individuals appear in court and bring documents that are important for his defence.

Besides Mr Amupitan, the court approved a subpoena against Joe Igbokwe, a member of the All Progressives Congress, as a proposed defence witness. But Mr Umar cancelled an earlier subpoena against the State Security Service (SSS) lead prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, also a SAN, saying the lawyer should not be forced to testify in the case.

The court postponed the proceedings until 11 November for further hearing. Mr Sowore shared INEC’s action on Facebook, accusing the commission of trying to dodge producing the president’s election records.

“Instead of producing the documents, @inecnigeria has rushed to court, asking that the subpoena be set aside!” he wrote. He questioned why the commission was challenging a court order for documents that should be in their possession.

“Why is INEC fighting a court order demanding records that should be in its custody? What exactly is the electoral commission afraid of producing?” he asked. The activist insisted that the records must be produced on Wednesday.

Mr Sowore is being prosecuted by the SSS over social media posts in which he called President Tinubu a criminal. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. INEC’s application aims to stop its chairman from being forced to bring the documents and testify in the trial. The Federal High Court has not yet ruled on the application.