WorldStage— Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has cautioned legal teams not to speak about the ongoing political suit involves former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in public.
Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) had filed a new lawsuit in Abuja seeking to stop President Tinubu from contesting the upcoming 2027 presidential election.
The opposition camp claims the president submitted a false National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to the plaintiffs, the disputed document bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle” instead of the president’s known name.
They are relying on Section 137(1)(j) of the 1999 Constitution, which handles disqualification for presenting forged documents.
Justice Inyang Ekwo issued a strong warning during the court session and told all lawyers involved in the matter to stop granting media interviews.
The judge stated that the case must be tried strictly inside the courtroom and banned discussions on regular television, radio, and social media networks.
Justice Ekwo warned that he will hold any counsel personally responsible if details are leaked online while promising to take harsh disciplinary actions against any lawyer who breaks the order.
The initial hearing failed to make full progress on Tuesday as Atiku’s lead lawyer, Joseph Onu, informed the court that his team had not yet served the formal court summons directly to President Tinubu.
According to him, attempts at personal service were unsuccessful and that the legal teams debated whether service to the defense counsel was enough.
Counsel for INEC, Alex Iziyon, urged the court to speed up the schedule, noting that significant time had passed since the initial filing but Justice Ekwo said he could not force the plaintiffs on how to organize their legal strategy.
The court subsequently adjourned the matter to September 28 for mention and urged both legal teams to resolve service bottlenecks before the next date.
Meanwhile, all parties were mandated to obey the strict media blackout.
