Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s latest legal challenge to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s eligibility for the 2027 presidential election has sparked fresh debate on social media, with Nigerians divided between those demanding that the allegations be subjected to judicial scrutiny and those dismissing the suit as another political battle ahead of the 2027 election.
Atiku, now the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday seeking Tinubu’s disqualification from the 2027 presidential election over an alleged forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.
The suit names Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants, and Abubakar personally appeared at the court registry to depose to an affidavit in support of the action.
At the centre of the case is Section 137(1)(j) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that a person is not qualified to be elected President if they have presented a forged certificate to INEC.
According to the affidavit, the NYSC certificate submitted to INEC bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle,” which Abubakar and the ADC argue differs from the President’s name, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, thereby asking the court to compel INEC to produce Tinubu’s Form CF001 submitted for both the 2023 and 2027 presidential elections.
Abubakar said he had chosen to personally depose to the affidavit because, in his view, the case involves the constitutional integrity of the presidency.
“I came here personally because the issues before the court go to the heart of our constitution and the integrity of the office of president,” the former vice president said.
He also urged Nigerians to allow the judiciary to determine the allegations rather than turning the dispute into another social media battle. “We are not asking Nigerians to decide this matter on social media, and we are not asking INEC to become a court,” he said.
However, the development immediately reignited the long-running debate on X, as some social media users questioned why the matter was being raised again and whether the new action could survive the legal restrictions governing pre-election challenges under the recently enacted Electoral Act.
Others, however, argued that the allegations should be tested in court rather than dismissed on the grounds of Atiku’s political interests.
Chris Charles, an X user, drew a comparison with former Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun, writing that Adeosun was “the only politician who resigned from office due to a forged NYSC certificate.”
Ekeh Maxwell also invoked the Adeosun case, describing it as a case study in how allegations surrounding NYSC credentials can affect political office holders. The ICIR reports that Adeosun resigned as finance minister in September 2018 after acknowledging that she had not participated in the mandatory NYSC scheme and had obtained a certificate of exemption which was subsequently reported to be forged.
She later challenged the circumstances surrounding the certificate in court, and in 2021 the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled in her favour in a suit concerning her eligibility for public office.
Adof Okoli, another X user, questioned how a politician allegedly using forged documents could have contested elections and held public office if the allegation were eventually established.
“One now wonders how a candidate with forged documents contested and won elections at various levels of government in this country,” Okoli wrote, questioning whether such a situation could occur anywhere other than what he described as a “banana republic.”
Others like Richard Ikuku accused former vice-president Atiku Abubakar of contributing to Nigeria’s political problems and described the lawsuit as an attempt to distract Nigerians rather than strengthen democratic institutions.
“Atiku is part of the problems of Nigeria and Nigerians. Instead of helping to build a strong institutionalised country, he sabotages democracy and plays a good distractor,” Ikuku wrote, while questioning whether Atiku had considered the implications of the new electoral law.
While focusing on the seriousness of forgery allegations, Francis wrote: “Forgery is a treasonable offence in Nigeria.”
But Denis dismissed Atiku’s action, writing: “Atiku is a joker, who get judiciary na Tinubu.”
The contrasting reactions underline the central divide in the online debate: whether Abubakar’s action should be viewed principally as a constitutional accountability case or as another episode in the political contest between him and Tinubu.
The latest case is not the first time Abubakar has challenged Tinubu over documents submitted to INEC.
During the 2023 presidential election litigation, the Presidential Election Petitions Court admitted certified copies of Tinubu’s academic and employment records tendered by Abubakar and the PDP.
The documents included a Chicago State University certificate, an NYSC discharge certificate and a Mobil Nigeria Oil Plc certificate of service. The NYSC document tendered before the tribunal bore the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle.”
Abubakar subsequently obtained additional documents from Chicago State University in the United States and asked Nigeria’s Supreme Court to admit them as fresh evidence in his appeal.
The Supreme Court, however, rejected that application on October 26, 2023, holding that the constitutional period for determining the presidential election petition had expired and that it therefore lacked jurisdiction to admit the new evidence. The apex court subsequently affirmed Tinubu’s election.
The Supreme Court did not determine the newly obtained Chicago State University material on its merits; it rejected Atiku’s attempt to introduce it at that stage of the proceedings on procedural and jurisdictional grounds.
Tinubu and his representatives have consistently rejected allegations surrounding his academic credentials.
In 2023, Tinubu’s lawyers argued before the Supreme Court that Abubakar’s allegation of certificate forgery had not been properly pleaded in the original election petition and that the subsequent attempt to introduce the Chicago State University evidence constituted an effort to introduce a new issue at the appeal stage.
The controversy also attracted comments from senior political figures outside the immediate legal battle.
Then-Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi urged Tinubu in October 2023 to publicly clarify aspects of his educational history and whether he participated in the NYSC scheme, saying such clarification could end what he described as an embarrassing controversy.
Unlike the 2023 dispute, Atiku is now approaching the issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election as the presidential candidate of the ADC rather than the PDP.
The new suit also raises a broader constitutional question as to whether provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, which restrict pre-election challenges, can limit reliance on the constitutional disqualification provision in Section 137(1)(j).
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