The legal battle instituted by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar challenging President Bola Tinubu’s eligibility to contest the 2027 presidential election suffered a setback on Tuesday following difficulties in serving the President with the court documents.

At the Federal High Court in Abuja, Atiku’s counsel, Joseph Onu Silas, told Justice Inyang Ekwo that efforts to personally serve Tinubu with the Originating Summons had been unsuccessful.

Silas consequently asked the court to grant an order allowing substituted service, which would enable the suit to proceed despite the difficulty in effecting personal service on the President.

However, proceedings took a dramatic turn when Omosanya Popoola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who appeared for President Tinubu, offered to accept the court process on behalf of his client.

Popoola urged Justice Ekwo to direct Atiku’s lawyer to hand over the court documents to him in open court for onward delivery to Tinubu.

The request triggered a disagreement between the lawyers.

Atiku’s counsel insisted that Popoola should first provide a written undertaking confirming that he had the authority and mandate of President Tinubu to accept the court process on his behalf.

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Alex Izinyon, also attempted to persuade the court to allow service of the documents through Tinubu’s lawyer so that proceedings could continue.

The attempt, however, failed to resolve the dispute.

Justice Ekwo subsequently adjourned the matter to September 28 to allow Atiku’s legal team to address the issue surrounding service of the court process.

Why Atiku is challenging Tinubu’s 2027 eligibility

Atiku Abubakar had filed the suit against President Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The former vice president is asking the Federal High Court to disqualify Tinubu from participating in the 2027 presidential election, citing alleged constitutional and eligibility grounds.

The case is expected to test several issues surrounding the qualification of presidential candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.

For now, however, the substantive arguments in the suit cannot proceed fully until the court process has been properly served in accordance with the law.