INEC Moves to Block Sowore From Accessing Tinubu’s 1999, 2023 Election Records

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to set aside an order compelling its chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, to produce electoral documents connected to President Bola Tinubu’s 1999 Lagos State governorship election and the 2023 presidential election.

In a Motion on Notice dated November 10, 2026, the commission’s legal team asked the court to vacate the subpoena that was issued on October 26 in the ongoing criminal trial of human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore.

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Filed by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the suit numbered FHC/CR/484/2025 centres on Sowore’s description of Tinubu as a criminal.

Justice Mohammed Garba Umar issued the subpoena, which ordered the INEC chairman to appear in court and produce two sets of electoral documents that Tinubu submitted to the commission. They are the INEC Form CF01 Tinubu submitted during the 1999 Lagos State governorship election, alongside an affidavit concerning lost certificates, and the Form CF01 submitted for the 2023 presidential election.

The court also directed Amupitan to testify on Sowore’s behalf and to stay in attendance until the case is determined.

Grounds on which INEC is challenging the order

INEC is contesting the order on the basis that the subpoena was invalid, improperly served and sought documents that were not in its custody. The commission set out four grounds in support of its request.

It argued that the subpoena was “void ab initio, ungrantable, inconsistent and contradictory”, and contended that it was not personally served on Amupitan as the law requires.

On the documents sought by the defence, the commission maintained that “there is no form known as INEC CF01 for the Lagos State Governorship Election 1999 and INEC Form CF01 for the 2023 Presidential Election”.

The commission further argued that the documents described in the subpoena “are unknown and are not in the custody of the Applicant”. It also alleged that the subpoena was brought “mala fide, bad faith, irrelevant, fishy and speculative”.

INEC consequently asked the court to make an order “setting aside the subpoena Duces Tecum dated the 26th day of October served on INEC Headquarters, Abuja on the 6th day of November, 2026”.

Earlier ruling on subpoena against DSS lawyer

The application comes days after Justice Umar set aside another subpoena issued at Sowore’s instance against Akinlolu Kehinde, a lawyer representing the Department of State Services (DSS), in the same trial.

Delivering his ruling on Monday, the judge held that a lawyer owes a client a strict duty of confidentiality, and that communications relating to legal representation generally cannot be extracted by compulsion. Compelling a lawyer to give evidence, he added, is possible only in limited circumstances, including where the evidence concerns an uncontested matter or an issue that would not adversely affect the client.

After that ruling, Sowore’s defence counsel, Ruben Adakole, told the court the defence planned to subpoena APC chieftain Joe Igbokwe and INEC chairman Amupitan as witnesses.

The court then ordered that the subpoenas be issued and put the trial off until November 11, when the proposed witnesses are expected to appear.