A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled a hearing on October 12 in a case that seeks to disqualify Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressives Congress, from running in the 2023 election due to suspected certificate fraud.
The date was set by Justice Obiora Egwuatu so that the parties to the lawsuit may finish filing their legal documents and exchanging them as required by law.
At the resumed hearing, Ukpai Ukairo, the attorney for Action Alliance, the party that filed the lawsuit, informed the court that he had just received Tinubu's notice of preliminary objection, in which the latter requested that the court not take the case against him on a number of grounds.
In the preliminary objection, Tinubu argued that the electoral forms he submitted to the electoral board in 1999 and the report of the Lagos State House of Assembly, which has since become statute barred, serve as the basis for the certificate forgery lawsuit brought against him.
However, counsel for the Action Alliance assured the court that the arguments of the former governor of Lagos State, particularly those relating to the post being statutorily banned, would be appropriately addressed in the subsequent proceedings.
The APC was not represented in court while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the first defendant in the lawsuit, asked for more time to answer.
After listening to the parties, Justice Egwuatu adjourned the suit to October 12 for parties to regularise their processes in order for proper hearing of the suit.