2027: We’ll challenge Tinubu’s qualifications in court, says Solomon Dalung

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Solomon Dalung, has said he will institute a fresh legal challenge against President Bola Tinubu’s educational qualifications ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Mr Dalung, a former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, alleged that unresolved questions surrounding Tinubu’s qualifications remained the “greatest threat” to Nigeria’s democratic transition and vowed to challenge the President’s eligibility in court.

He made the remarks during a media briefing at his residence in Jos, Plateau State, where he also accused the All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration of weakening opposition parties and undermining Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.

According to him, the ruling party had intensified efforts to weaken the opposition by encouraging defections of elected officials.

“The political parties, who are actors in democracy, have also been destroyed. This attribute of destroying political parties started with the President buying governors to defect into his political party (APC). Thirty-one of them have gone there, yet he is still not certain of 2027,” Mr Dalung alleged.

He also accused the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of sponsoring litigation against opposition political parties to weaken them ahead of the next general election.

“The sponsor of all the litigation is Gbajabiamila; he should come out clean if he is denying it. The 2027 transition is under attack because democracy cannot exist with only one political party under a multiparty democracy constitutionally guaranteed,” he said.

Mr Dalung further alleged that President Tinubu was apprehensive about facing a united opposition because of what he described as unresolved issues surrounding the President’s educational qualifications.

“Tinubu is afraid of contesting election not because he didn’t want to contest, but because he is the most unqualified person to be nominated to contest election,” he said.

He claimed that legal challenges to Tinubu’s qualifications in 2023 failed because the Supreme Court held that the matter was a pre-election issue.

“And to the best of my knowledge, Tinubu has not gone to any school since 2023, so all the fake certificates that have been presented have not been remedied,” Mr Dalung alleged.

The former minister also made fresh allegations regarding Mr Tinubu’s educational records and National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, documentation, claiming they contained inconsistencies.

He insisted that the Constitution clearly stipulates the qualifications required to contest for the office of President and maintained that the ADC would seek judicial interpretation of Tinubu’s credentials as submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

“So the greatest threat to the transition is the qualification of Tinubu. We will go to court,” Mr Dalung declared.