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”.
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