Labour Party (LP) chieftain Abayomi Arabambi has instituted separate legal actions against the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) over their alleged failure to release records relating to certificates associated with Peter Obi.
Obi is the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election.
Arabambi filed three separate suits before the Federal High Court in Abuja against the institutions, seeking access to official records relating to certificates he believes were issued to Obi.
The suit against WAEC, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2064/2026, and the case against NYSC, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2063/2026, were filed on September 1, while the suit against UNN, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2144/2026, was filed on Wednesday.
The suits were filed through a team of lawyers led by Anderson Asemota, according to court documents obtained on Sunday.
Arabambi said he had previously written separately to the three institutions requesting information concerning certificates he believed were issued to Obi.
He said WAEC rejected his request, while UNN and NYSC neither granted his requests nor provided reasons for their failure to do so.
The LP chieftain clarified that the cases were not asking the court to determine whether the certificates Obi submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Form EC9 for the 2027 presidential election were genuine or forged.
Instead, the former national publicity secretary of the Lamidi Apapa faction of the party said he was seeking access to the institutions’ official records “from which the status and particulars of the certificates may be ascertained.”
In the suit against WAEC, Arabambi asked the court to compel the examination council to provide a certified true copy of WAEC certificate No. SC042560, allegedly issued to Obi Gregory Onwubuase in June 1978.
He is also asking the court to order UNN to release its certificate register, academic and graduation records, Senate or degree-award records and other existing official documents relating to certificate No. D000198, where such records exist.
“The applicant is not asking this court, in this proceeding, to pronounce that Certificate No. D000198 is genuine or forged.
Rather, to ascertain what the university’s own official records disclose concerning the certificate.”
Arabambi also wants NYSC to release records relating to certificate No. 203495, allegedly issued to “Obi, Gregory Peter-Onwubuase (Mr.)” on May 1, 1986.
He is further seeking any official record, certificate, document or other material upon which the certificate was based or issued, where such records are in the custody or control of NYSC.
The plaintiff said he specifically wants clarification on how the name “Peter-Onwubuase” appears in the relevant NYSC records.
The suits also referenced what Arabambi described as multiple variations in Obi’s name across documents submitted to INEC and educational institutions.
According to the court documents, WAEC rejected Arabambi’s request in a letter dated August 11, citing Sections 14(1)(a) and 14(2)(a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
Arabambi argued that the decision was erroneous and asked the court to declare that his request under the FOI Act was valid and should have been granted.
He is also seeking orders compelling the institutions to communicate the outcome of their verification of the certificates against their official records.
For UNN, Arabambi wants the university to disclose whether certificate No. D000198 and its particulars appear in its records.
He also wants NYSC to communicate the outcome of its verification of certificate No. 203495 against its official records.
Arabambi further asked the court to order the institutions, where they believe any portion of the requested information is exempt from disclosure, to identify the information being withheld, state the specific statutory provision relied upon and release any severable portion that is not exempt.
He urged the court to invoke Section 25 of the FOI Act and order disclosure if it finds that the institutions are not authorised to deny access, have no reasonable grounds for withholding the information, or where the public interest in disclosure outweighs the interest served by keeping the information confidential.
The case is yet to be assigned to a judge.
Source: Court documents
