A federal high court sitting in Abuja has granted the request by a civil rights organization under the auspices of Incorporated Trustees of the Center for Reform and Public Advocacy, to apply for an order of mandamus that will require the Inspector General of Police to prosecute Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, over alleged perjury.
The organization filed the request after the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba allegedly refused to effect the arrest and prosecution of Tinubu for supplying false information on oath in respect of his educational qualifications.
Ruling on an ex-parte application, Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge granted the permission on Thursday.
According to Justice Inyang Ekwo, the ex-parte petition was meritorious and subsequently fixed November 1 for the hearing of the substantive suit.
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1058/2022 and filed on July 4, the CSO claimed that Tinubu lied under oath when he tendered his credentials to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 1999.
Tinubu contested the Lagos governorship seat at the time.
The group said the IGP is authorized by the constitution and police act to probe criminal allegations leveled against anyone.
The CSO had begged the court for “an order of mandamus compelling the respondents to comply with sections 31 and 32 of the police act and section 3 of the criminal justice act, 2015 in respect of alleged crime laid out in complaint of the applicant encapsulated in the letter of June 16, 2022, received by the respondents on the same date and titled: Demand for Criminal Prosecution of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu under Sections 191, 192 and 463 of the criminal code act, law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, consequent upon the findings of the Lagos State House of Assembly ad hoc Committee, 1999″.
The CSO, in the suit, said according to section 32(1) of the police act, any suspect is meant to be arrested and tried in court.
The group also said it was compelled to file the suit because two letters it wrote to the IGP where it called for the prosecution of Tinubu were allegedly ignored.
