The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is challenging a Federal High Court order compelling its chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, to produce President Bola Tinubu’s electoral documents from the 1999 Lagos governorship and 2023 presidential elections, setting up a legal dispute over records sought by Omoyele Sowore’s defence team.
Amupitan, through his lawyer, Alex Izinyon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has asked the court to set aside the subpoena issued in Sowore’s ongoing criminal trial over social media publications about the President.
The application, dated November 10, 2026, describes the subpoena as defective, contradictory and unenforceable. It contends that Amupitan was not personally served with the court order, although the document was delivered to INEC’s Litigation and Prosecution Department at its Abuja headquarters.
The chairman also disputes the description of the documents requested. Sowore’s defence wants Tinubu’s Form CF001, including an affidavit relating to lost certificates, submitted during his 1999 Lagos governorship candidacy.
It also seeks the corresponding nomination document for the 2023 presidential election.
However, Amupitan maintains that no forms bearing the descriptions used in the subpoena are known as INEC CF01 for those elections and that the specified documents are not in his custody.
In the affidavit supporting the application, the commission’s position is that the subpoena is irrelevant to the criminal case and was obtained in bad faith. It also maintains that the INEC chairman is not a party to the prosecution and was not the maker of the documents being demanded.
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The dispute centres on a subpoena duces tecum, a court order requiring a person to produce specified documents or other evidence. Such an order can assist a defendant in presenting evidence, but the recipient may challenge its validity or the relevance and availability of the material requested.
Sowore’s defence secured the subpoena as part of its effort to examine Tinubu’s electoral records during the trial. The activist is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services over social media posts in which he allegedly described the President as a criminal. He has pleaded not guilty.
The documents have attracted public attention because they relate to two significant stages in Tinubu’s political career, his emergence as Lagos governor in 1999 and his presidential candidacy in 2023. Their possible presentation in court would allow the defence to examine the records within the limits of the trial.
The court has yet to determine whether Amupitan must comply with the subpoena. Consequently, the chairman’s application should not be mistaken for a judicial finding that the documents do not exist or that the original court order has been cancelled.
The defence also obtained a separate subpoena compelling APC chieftain Joe Igbokwe to appear as a witness. It intends to question him about his public comments following Sowore’s social media publications.
Proceedings were stalled on November 11 because Justice Mohammed Umar was absent due to illness. The court subsequently fixed November 17 for continuation of the trial.
The next hearing could therefore determine whether the INEC chairman will be required to produce the specified records or whether the subpoena will be set aside.
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