By Suleiman Anyalewechi
An advocacy group, Centre for Reforms and Public Advocacy, CFRPA, has questioned the motives behind the transfer of its suit challenging the academic qualifications of President BolaTinubu from the Kano Division of the Federal High Court to Abuja.
The Source reports that the group, on June 26, 2026, in the wake of the publication of the academic and other details of various Presidential candidates by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ahead of the 2027 polls, filed an application at the Federal High Court, Kano, challenging what it described as questionable academic qualifications of the President, who is seeking re-election on the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
The civil society organization is particularly questioning the basis upon which the President’s primary and secondary school certificates were not listed on the INEC’s nomination forms.
In a statement on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, from Kalu Kalu, its Head of Legal Unit, the CFRPA expressed serious concern that the sudden transfer of its application from Kano to Abuja has the high potential of undermining justice ,and eroding public confidence in the Judiciary.
According to it, the transfer appears to be an incontrovertible evidence that the President and his legal team are enjoying preferential treatment as well as suggesting bias on the part of the Judiciary.
He emphasized that for the fact that the transfer was sequel to an application by the President’s legal team, clearly signposts possible impartiality by the Court in its handling of the matter.
The group, in rejecting the transfer, further contended that nearly all its members and witnesses reside in Kano, and by taking the matter to Abuja, the court has dangerously disadvantaged it from diligently prosecuting its case.
CFRPA noted that by taking the matter to Abuja, the court has wittingly or unwittingly denied its members and witnesses access to justice as they may find it difficult to be shuttling between Kano and Abuja.
“Kano is where many of our witnesses and members reside. Transferring the suit to Abuja imposes unnecessary hardship, cost and inconvenience on the plaintiffs, and is designed to frustrate the case”, the group noted.
The group similarly alleged that the transfer “appears to be a deliberate attempt to shop for a more convenient forum for Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is the sitting President, and to avoid public scrutiny in Kano”.
This is as it challenged the President and his legal team to come clean on their motives for seeking and influencing the transfer of the case to Abuja.
“If Mr President has nothing to hide regarding the allegations of forgery of academic credentials, why is he afraid of going to the North to stand trial and defend himself in Kano? A leader who claims to represent all Nigerians should not be afraid to answer constitutional questions in any part of Nigeria”, the group asserted.
The Civil Society organization, therefore, urged the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to reverse the transfer order and allow proceedings to continue in Kano.
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