INEC Challenges Court Order For Tinubu’s 1999, 2023 Election Records [PHOTOS]

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through its Chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to set aside a subpoena compelling the electoral body to produce documents relating to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 1999 Lagos State governorship and 2023 presidential elections.

Court documents obtained on November 10, 2026, reveal that the INEC chairman filed a Motion on Notice dated November 10, 2026, asking the court to nullify the subpoena issued on October 26, 2026, in the ongoing criminal trial of human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.

The subpoena, issued by Justice Mohammed Garba Umar under Charge No. FHC/CR/484/2025, directed the commission to produce INEC Form CF001—including an affidavit regarding lost certificates from the 1999 Lagos gubernatorial race—alongside equivalent filings from the 2023 presidential election.

Although the court order was served on INEC’s Litigation and Prosecution Department at its Abuja headquarters on November 6, 2026, the commission opted to challenge its legal validity instead of producing the requested records.

In the application filed by counsel Dr. Alex A. Izinyon, SAN, the INEC chairman is urging the court to declare the subpoena void, unenforceable, and contradictory based on the following grounds:

• Improper Service: The application argues that the subpoena was not personally served on Professor Amupitan as required by statutory procedure.
• Defective Request: The legal team contends that the demanded documents are either incorrectly described or do not exist in the specified format.
• Irrelevance to Trial: INEC’s counsel asserts that the requested election records are irrelevant to the criminal charges filed against Sowore and that the subpoena was issued in bad faith.

Sowore is currently standing trial over allegations stemming from public statements in which he described President Tinubu as a criminal.

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