The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN, has accused human rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore of seeking President Bola Tinubu’s 1999 and 2023 election documents in bad faith, alleging that the request is intended to embarrass the electoral commission.
Amupitan made the allegation in a court application seeking to set aside a subpoena issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja directing him to produce the documents and testify on behalf of Sowore in his ongoing criminal trial.
In the grounds supporting the application, the INEC chairman described the subpoena as “mala fide, bad faith, irrelevant, fishy and speculative.”
The allegation was also repeated in an affidavit filed in support of the application.
The affidavit, sworn by Mendie Akpan, a litigation secretary in the law firm representing Amupitan, states that the defendant’s application was brought “malafidel and in bad faith to embarrass the establishment.”
The subpoena, issued on October 26, 2026, by the Federal High Court in Abuja, directs Amupitan to produce two sets of electoral documents submitted by Tinubu to INEC.
They are the INEC Form CF01, including an affidavit concerning lost certificates, submitted by Tinubu as a candidate in the 1999 Lagos State governorship election, and the Form CF01 submitted for the 2023 presidential election.
The documents are being sought in Charge No. FHC/CR/484/2025, in which the Federal Republic of Nigeria is prosecuting Sowore over his description of Tinubu as a criminal.
The subpoena also directs the INEC chairman to appear before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar and testify on behalf of the activist.
However, Amupitan, through his lawyers, filed a Motion on Notice dated November 10, 2026, asking the court to set aside the subpoena.
Apart from accusing Sowore of acting in bad faith, the application argues that the documents sought are unknown to the applicant in the form described and are not in his custody.
It also contends that Amupitan was not personally served with the subpoena, although it was delivered to INEC headquarters in Abuja.
The supporting affidavit states that the subpoena was served on the commission’s Litigation and Prosecution Department on November 6, 2026, at about 12:30pm.
It further states that Amupitan was not personally served on that date or at any other time.
The affidavit was sworn by Akpan, who said she was authorised by Amupitan and her employers to depose to it. She stated that the information about the applicant’s position was received during a telephone conference with him and his lawyers on November 10.
SaharaReporters had earlier reported that Sowore disclosed the subpoena in a Facebook post, sharing copies of the court order and hearing notice served on the INEC chairman.
The application by Amupitan is pending before the Federal High Court.