BREAKING: Court Orders INEC Chairman to Produce Tinubu’s 1999, 2023 Election Documents

• A court has directed the INEC chairman to produce Tinubu’s election documents from 1999 and 2023 and testify in Omoyele Sowore’s ongoing criminal trial.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has issued a subpoena directing the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Joash Amupitan, to produce documents submitted by President Bola Tinubu for the 1999 Lagos governorship election and the 2023 presidential election.

The directive forms part of the ongoing criminal trial of activist and African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, over social media statements concerning the President.

Amupitan is expected to appear before the court on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, to present the requested records and testify.

The documents identified in reports of the subpoena include Tinubu’s nomination form and an affidavit concerning lost certificates submitted for his 1999 governorship candidacy, alongside nomination records relating to the 2023 presidential election.

The subpoena was issued in the case before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar, marked FHC/CR/484/2025.

Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services over posts in which he described Tinubu as a criminal. The request for the electoral documents is connected to the presentation of his defence.

In a separate development during Monday’s proceedings, the court set aside a subpoena seeking to compel the prosecution’s lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, to testify in the same case.

Following that ruling, defence counsel Ruben Adakole informed the court of the defence’s intention to call Amupitan and All Progressives Congress chieftain Joe Igbokwe as witnesses.

The matter was subsequently adjourned until November 11 for the appearance of the subpoenaed defence witnesses.

The directive to produce Tinubu’s records is an evidentiary step in Sowore’s trial. It does not establish that the documents contain false information, amount to a finding of wrongdoing against the President or constitute a ruling on his electoral eligibility.

Further proceedings will determine how the requested documents and witness testimony are considered in the case.