Atiku’s Tinubu Case Has Hit the Most Nigerian Roadblock: The Court Papers Cannot Find the Man

Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election is still some distance away, but the legal battle around who should even be allowed to contest is already producing the kind of drama that makes you wonder whether we are preparing for an election or filming a very long political series.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has taken President Bola Tinubu to court, challenging his eligibility to contest the 2027 presidential election. But just when everybody was expecting lawyers to start arguing about the actual allegations, the case has encountered a small but very important Nigerian problem: the court papers have not reached Tinubu.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has now adjourned the matter until September 28 after Atiku’s lawyer told the court that efforts to personally serve Tinubu with the originating summons had been unsuccessful.

And this is where things became interesting.

Tinubu’s lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria Omosanya Popoola, reportedly offered to accept the documents on the President’s behalf. You would think this should have solved the problem.

Apparently, everybody had other plans.

Atiku’s lawyer declined, insisting that the lawyer should first provide a written undertaking confirming that he had Tinubu’s authority to receive the documents.

So there they were: one lawyer holding the willingness to collect the papers, another lawyer holding the papers but refusing to release them, and the judge sitting in the middle wondering how a document that is supposed to start a case has become the case itself.

It is almost like sending someone a WhatsApp message and spending three days arguing about whether their friend is authorised to collect the phone on their behalf.

The actual case is considerably more serious. Atiku and the African Democratic Congress are challenging Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the 2027 election, with a major part of their argument centred on an alleged discrepancy involving an NYSC discharge certificate submitted to INEC. They allege that the certificate bears the name “Tinubu Bola Adekunle”, rather than “Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” and want the court to determine what legal implications, if any, that has for Tinubu’s eligibility.

But none of that could properly get going because the court is still dealing with service.

Which means that, for now, the biggest obstacle standing between Atiku and his day in court is not necessarily Tinubu’s lawyers, the Constitution, INEC or even the disputed certificate.

It is simply:

“Has the man received the paper?”

And if there is anything Nigeria has taught us, it is that sometimes the journey of one piece of paper can be longer than the journey to 2027 itself.