Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken President Bola Tinubu to court over an alleged discrepancy in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate submitted by the President, asking that he be barred from participating in the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), filed the case at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday.
In the suit, he alleged that Tinubu presented a disputed NYSC discharge certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the electoral processes connected to the 2023 and 2027 presidential elections.
Atiku is asking the court to rule that Tinubu is not qualified to seek re-election in 2027, citing what he described as inconsistencies in the name appearing on the certificate.
According to the former vice president, the document submitted to INEC bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle”, while the President is officially known as “Bola Ahmed Tinubu”.
Atiku was present at the Federal High Court in Abuja when the legal action was filed.
The case represents another major development in the long-running political confrontation between Atiku and Tinubu, particularly as political parties and opposition groups position themselves ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Questions surrounding Tinubu’s academic qualifications and official records have remained a recurring issue in Nigeria’s political arena, with opposition figures continuing to scrutinise documents linked to his past.
The latest action comes amid a broader campaign by Atiku’s camp to draw attention to issues surrounding the President’s records.
Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, disclosed on Friday that one of the former vice president’s lawyers, Barrister Kalu Kalu, had submitted a petition to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.
The petition reportedly asked European institutions to examine concerns raised by Atiku’s camp regarding Tinubu’s alleged certificate issues, election-related documents and a 1993 civil forfeiture involving $460,000 in the United States.
Ibe said the move was intended to bring international attention to what the opposition camp considers unresolved questions concerning the President’s records and Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
“The issues of President Bola Tinubu’s alleged forgery of certificates and documents and forfeiture of $460,000 linked to heroin trafficking in the United States is not going away anytime soon,” Ibe wrote.
He added: “Here’s Barr. Kalu Kalu submitting a petition to the European Commission in Brussels on this and Tinubu’s threat to our constitutional democracy.”
The Federal High Court case now puts the disputed NYSC certificate before the judiciary, with the proceedings potentially influencing the political battle over Tinubu’s eligibility for the 2027 election.
Atiku previously contested the 2023 presidential election against Tinubu on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party before later joining the ADC as the opposition coalition prepared for the next presidential contest.
