A chieftain of the Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, has sued the West African Examinations Council, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the National Youth Service Corps over the academic credentials of the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, Peter Obi.
Arabambi, in three separate suits filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja and made available to our correspondent on Sunday, is seeking orders compelling the three institutions to release official records relating to certificates allegedly issued to Obi.
The plaintiff instituted the suits pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011, alleging that the institutions either refused or failed to respond to his requests for information concerning Obi’s academic records.
The suit against WAEC is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2064/2026 and was filed on September 1, 2026. The action against the NYSC, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2063/2026, was also filed on September 1, while the suit against the UNN, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2144/2026, was filed on September 9.
Arabambi’s lawyer, Anderson Asemota, filed the suits on his client’s behalf.
The plaintiff stressed that he was not asking the court to determine whether the certificates Obi submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2027 presidential election were genuine or forged.
Rather, he said he was seeking “disclosure of the respondents’ official records from which the status and particulars of the certificate may be ascertained”.
According to the plaintiff, he separately wrote to the three institutions requesting information about certificates he believed they issued to Obi.
He alleged that, as of the time the suits were filed, he had neither received the requested information nor been given reasons why they were being withheld by UNN and NYSC.
Arabambi said the information sought was in the public interest, particularly “for purposes of transparency and accountability concerning persons seeking public office.”
He also stated that he was not asking the institutions “to create any document or information which does not exist” but was seeking “access only to existing official records within the custody, possession or control of the respondents”.
In the suit against WAEC, the plaintiff specifically asked the court to compel the examination body to release a Certified True Copy of WAEC Certificate No. SC042560, issued to Obi Gregory Onwubuase in June 1978.
For UNN, Arabambi is seeking access to “the University’s certificate register, academic records, graduation records, Senate/ degree-award records and other existing official records relevant to Certificate No. D000198, insofar as such records exist.”
The plaintiff stated that he was not asking the court to pronounce on the authenticity of the certificate, but to “ascertain what the University’s own official records disclose concerning the certificate”.
In the NYSC case, Arabambi is seeking access to official records relating to NYSC Certificate No. 203495, stated to have been issued to “Obi, Gregory Peter-Onwubuase (Mr.) on May 1, 1986”.
He is also asking for the “official record, certificate, document or other material upon which the said Certificate No.203495 was predicated, based or issued, insofar as the same is in the custody, possession or control of the respondents.”
The plaintiff further wants information concerning the manner in which the name “Peter-Onwubuase” appears in the relevant NYSC records.
Court documents showed that WAEC, in a letter dated August 11, 2026, rejected Arabambi’s request, citing Sections 14(1)(a) and 14(2)(a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.
However, Arabambi alleged that UNN and NYSC neither granted his requests nor communicated any reason for refusing them.
He is therefore asking the court to declare that the refusal by the respondents to furnish him with the requested information was erroneous.
He further asked the court to hold that his requests constituted valid applications for information under the Freedom of Information Act and that the failure to provide the information amounted to “a refusal and/or deemed refusal under the Act”.
Among other reliefs, Arabambi is seeking an order of mandamus compelling UNN to communicate to him the result of its verification of the particulars of Certificate No. D000198 from its existing official records, including whether the certificate and its particulars appear in those records.
He is equally asking for an order compelling NYSC to communicate to him the result of its verification of Certificate No. 203495 based on its official records.
The plaintiff further wants the court to direct the respondents, where they contend that any portion of the requested information is exempt from disclosure, to identify the information withheld and the specific statutory provision relied upon for the refusal.
He is also seeking an order directing the disclosure of all severable portions of the information that are not exempt.
In addition, Arabambi wants the court to invoke Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act and order disclosure where it finds that the respondents are not authorised to deny access, have no reasonable grounds for doing so, or where the public interest in disclosure outweighs the interest served by withholding the information.
No date had been fixed for hearing in the three suits as of the time of filing this report.
(Source: Punch with modified headline)
