Just In: Court Orders INEC to Produce Tinubu's 1999, 2023 Election Documents in Sowore Trial
- A federal high court in Abuja issued a subpoena ordering INEC chairman Joash Amupitan to appear in Omoyele Sowore's criminal trial
- The court specifically requested Tinubu's INEC Form CF001, including an affidavit on lost certificates, from both his 1999 and 2023 election bids
- The court also dismissed Sowore's separate bid to force the DSS lead counsel to testify as a defence witness
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Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over eight years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international issues
FCT, Abuja - A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, to produce President Bola Tinubu's nomination documents from his 1999 Lagos governorship campaign and his 2023 presidential run as part of Omoyele Sowore's ongoing criminal trial.
The formal document, titled "Subpoena Duces Tecum" and signed by presiding judge Mohammed Umar, was issued under charge number FHC/CR/484/2025.
Source: Twitter
It directs Amupitan to present Tinubu's INEC Form CF001, which includes an affidavit relating to lost certificates that the president submitted when he ran for Lagos governor in 1999, as well as the equivalent form he filed ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
How the subpoena came about
The order followed a ruling on Monday, November 9, 2026, in which the court approved a defence request to subpoena Amupitan and Joe Igbokwe, a former publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, as witnesses.
As reorted by TheCale, Ruben Adakole, counsel to Sowore, told the court the defence intended to call both men to testify.
The judge granted the application and directed that subpoenas be issued to each of them.
However, in a separate ruling delivered the same day, the court rejected Sowore's bid to compel Akinlolu Kehinde, the lead counsel for the Department of State Services (DSS), to take the stand as a defence witness.
The judge set aside the subpoena that had earlier been issued to Kehinde, explaining that lawyers owe their clients a duty of confidentiality and cannot ordinarily be forced to disclose communications connected to legal representation.
He noted that a legal practitioner can only be compelled to testify in very limited circumstances, such as where the evidence concerns an uncontested matter or would not harm the client's interests.
The judge also agreed with the prosecution's position that the application against Kehinde was brought in bad faith and was designed to slow down the proceedings.
The case has been adjourned until November 11, when the subpoenaed defence witnesses are expected to appear before the court.
Why Sowore is on trial
Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters, is being prosecuted by the DSS over social media posts in which he allegedly referred to President Tinubu as a "criminal."
The DSS brought the charges, and the trial has drawn attention partly because of its links to longstanding questions about Tinubu's academic records and the documents he submitted to electoral authorities ahead of past elections.
Source: Facebook
INEC deletes 1.6m invalid voter registrations
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that INEC removed more than 1.6 million invalid registrants from Nigeria's voter register as part of a clean-up exercise.
The commission also struck off 876 voters who were confirmed dead after the preliminary register was displayed in October 2026.
INEC said a cleaned-up version of the voter register will be published on December 16, 2026, in line with electoral law.
Source: Legit.ng
