Tinubu's 1999, 2023 Records: INEC Makes 1 Demand From Court
- INEC filed a motion challenging a subpoena that directed its chairman to produce President Tinubu's electoral forms from 1999 and 2023
- The commission argued the subpoena was defective, that its chairman was not personally served, and that the described documents were not in its custody
- The challenge came hours before INEC chairman Joash Amupitan was scheduled to appear in court as a defence witness in Sowore's criminal trial
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking judges to set aside a subpoena requiring its chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, to appear in court and produce President Bola Tinubu's electoral filings from the 1999 Lagos governorship election and the 2023 presidential election.
INEC's lawyer, Alex Izinyon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, filed the motion on Tuesday. The court registry received it at 3.45 p.m. The application came just one day before Prof. Amupitan was scheduled to appear on Wednesday, November 11, as a defence witness in the criminal trial of human rights activist Omoyele Sowore, in case number FHC/CR/484/2025 before trial judge Mohammed Umar.
Source: Twitter
Sowore is being prosecuted by the State Security Service (SSS) over social media publications in which he described President Tinubu as a criminal. He has pleaded not guilty.
INEC's grounds for challenging the subpoena
According to Premium Times, the commission raised four grounds in its application, describing the subpoena as "void ab initio, ungrantable, inconsistent and contradictory."
INEC said Prof. Amupitan was never personally served with the subpoena, as the law requires. It added that a form described as INEC CF001 for either the 1999 Lagos governorship election or the 2023 presidential election did not exist within its records. The commission maintained that the documents, as described, were unknown to it and were not in the custody of its chairman.
The commission also accused Sowore's defence team of acting in bad faith, calling the application irrelevant, speculative, and designed to embarrass the electoral body.
In a supporting affidavit, Mendie Akpan, a litigation secretary in Izinyon's law firm, said the subpoena was delivered to INEC's Litigation and Prosecution Department at about 12.30 p.m. on November 6, but that Prof. Amupitan was not personally served on that date or at any other time. She further said the chairman was not a party to the criminal proceedings and was not the maker of the documents being sought.
Other defence witnesses in the Sowore trial
The subpoena against INEC's chairman followed an application by Sowore's defence team, led by Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, also a SAN, to compel relevant individuals to appear and produce documents for the defence. The court also approved a subpoena against Joe Igbokwe, an All Progressives Congress chieftain, as a proposed defence witness.
However, Judge Umar set aside a separate subpoena issued against the SSS lead prosecutor, Akinlolu Kehinde, ruling that the lawyer could not be compelled to testify in the case.
Sowore disclosed INEC's move in a Facebook post on Tuesday, accusing the commission of attempting to avoid producing the president's electoral records. He questioned why the commission was resisting a court order for documents he insisted should be in its custody, and said the records must be produced on Wednesday.
The Federal High Court is yet to rule on INEC's application.
See Sowore's comment on the development on X here:
Source: Legit.ng
