By staff Reporter Rukevwe Odeh

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to overturn an order directing its Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, to produce President Bola Tinubu’s electoral records from the 1999 Lagos State governorship election and the 2023 presidential election.

Amupitan, through his legal representatives, filed a Motion on Notice dated November 10, 2026, challenging the subpoena issued by the court on October 26 in the ongoing criminal trial of human rights activist and African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore.

The case, marked FHC/CR/484/2025, is before Justice Mohammed Garba Umar and involves the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the complainant and Sowore as the defendant.

The subpoena directed the INEC chairman to produce two sets of electoral documents submitted by Tinubu to the commission. They include his Form CF001 for the 1999 Lagos State governorship election, alongside an affidavit relating to lost certificates, and the corresponding nomination document submitted for the 2023 presidential election.

The court also directed Amupitan to appear as a defence witness and remain in attendance until the determination of the case.

However, INEC is challenging the directive on four grounds, describing the subpoena as legally defective, improperly served and inconsistent with the relevant legal requirements.

The commission argued that Amupitan was not personally served with the subpoena, insisting that service on INEC’s headquarters did not satisfy the required legal procedure.

INEC also maintained that the documents described in the subpoena were not in its custody, arguing that there were no forms known as INEC CF01 for either the 1999 Lagos governorship election or the 2023 presidential election.

Furthermore, the electoral body accused the defence of bringing the application in bad faith, describing the request as irrelevant, speculative and potentially intended to embarrass the commission.

INEC is consequently asking the court to set aside the subpoena issued on October 26, which was reportedly served at its headquarters on November 6.

The development comes amid the ongoing prosecution of Sowore by the Department of State Services (DSS) over his social media description of President Tinubu as a criminal, an allegation that triggered the legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, the Federal High Court is expected to consider INEC’s application as the case continues, with the commission seeking to prevent its chairman from being compelled to produce the requested documents and testify.

The court’s decision will determine whether the subpoena remains valid and whether Amupitan will be required to appear as a witness in the proceedings.

By staff Reporter Rukevwe Odeh

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed why he rejected an offer of political asylum from the United States despite warnings that he risked arrest upon returning to Nigeria during the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

Obasanjo disclosed this while recounting his experience under military rule in an interview published by BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday.

The former president said the American ambassador to Nigeria contacted him while he was travelling abroad and informed him that the US government was prepared to grant him political asylum because of intelligence reports indicating that Abacha intended to arrest him if he returned home.

However, Obasanjo said he declined the offer because he believed he had committed no offence that warranted seeking refuge outside his country.

He recalled that after retiring from the Nigerian Army at the age of 42 as a four-star general and former military Head of State, he ventured into agriculture, which was progressing successfully before the Abacha administration moved against him.

According to him, he considered his military career complete after attaining the highest rank in the Army and serving as Nigeria’s military leader between 1976 and 1979.

Obasanjo alleged that Abacha had decided he must be eliminated to prevent him from standing in the way of the military ruler’s plans.

He said upon returning to Nigeria, his international passport was seized, after which he proceeded to his farm.

On arriving at the farm, one of his security personnel informed him that government security operatives had surrounded the property.

He further narrated that a police officer dressed in civilian clothes subsequently approached him, claiming that an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) had invited him to the station.

Obasanjo said he challenged the officer, insisting that if the AIG wanted to see him, he should come personally rather than send someone to invite him.

He eventually drove himself to the police station, where the AIG informed him that he had received instructions to arrest him.

The former president also recalled the intervention of former United States President Jimmy Carter, who appealed to Abacha on his behalf.

According to Obasanjo, Carter’s intervention initially secured his placement under house arrest after he had been held at an undisclosed location.

However, he said security operatives later arrived at about 1am while he was playing squash and took him away to prison.

Obasanjo was arrested in 1995 over allegations of involvement in a coup plot against Abacha’s government. He was tried by a military tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment, although the sentence was later reduced to 15 years.

He regained his freedom in June 1998 following Abacha’s death and subsequently won the 1999 presidential election, becoming Nigeria’s civilian president.

He served two terms in office, leaving the presidency in May 2007.

By staff Reporter Rukevwe Odeh

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has challenged Nigerians to assess his administration based on its achievements and performance, urging voters to compare his record with those of opposition politicians seeking to unseat him in the 2027 presidential election.

Tinubu spoke on Tuesday during the launch of the Presidential Pension Security Initiatives at the State House, Abuja, where he announced the commencement of a N52,500 minimum monthly pension guarantee for 173,209 eligible retirees.

The President, who was represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, also unveiled PenCare, a pension industry-funded healthcare initiative designed to provide low-income retirees with access to essential medical services free of charge.

He described the initiatives as the fulfilment of a 22-year-old provision of the Pension Reform Act, which successive administrations had failed to implement.

Challenging his political opponents, Tinubu urged Nigerians to look beyond campaign promises and examine the records of those who previously occupied positions of authority.

He said: “Please judge me by my record in this election.”

The President also defended his administration’s removal of petrol subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange rate in 2023, describing the decisions as necessary economic reforms taken in the national interest.

According to him, the savings generated from subsidy removal have increased financial resources available to state governments and supported development initiatives across the country.

Citing the World Bank’s October 2026 report, Tinubu said state revenues increased by 93 per cent in real terms between 2023 and 2025, while the share of capital expenditure in state budgets rose from 46 per cent to 61 per cent.

He further claimed that state governments had used increased allocations to settle more than N1 trillion in outstanding pension liabilities.

On access to credit, the President disclosed that the National Credit Guarantee Company had facilitated N64 billion in loans for more than 174,000 borrowers, while the Nigerian Consumer Credit Corporation had extended N53 billion in credit to over 350,000 Nigerians across the 774 local government areas.

Meanwhile, Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Omolola Oloworaran, said the N52,500 minimum pension guarantee had been validated by an actuary and backed by more than N400 billion in the Pension Protection Fund.

She explained that payments would commence immediately for the 173,209 eligible retirees earning below the approved threshold, covering both public and private-sector contributors under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

Oloworaran also disclosed that between 25,000 and 30,000 healthcare access cards had already been distributed to low-income retirees during the pilot phase of the PenCare initiative.

She maintained that the pension reforms were part of the commission’s ongoing institutional responsibilities and were not introduced solely because of the approaching 2027 elections.