The Supreme Court of Nigeria has rejected the lawsuit aimed at ousting President Bola Tinubu from his position.
The case was brought forth by Ambrose Owuru, the presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party during the 2019 elections, who sought Tinubu’s removal based on allegations from the Central Intelligence Agency and drug-related issues.
In a unanimous ruling by a five-member panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the court deemed the lawsuit frivolous and imposed a fine of N5 million on Owuru.
The court also cautioned the Supreme Court Registry against accepting any more frivolous originating summons from the plaintiff in the future.
In his legal action filed directly with the Supreme Court, Owuru alleged that President Tinubu serves as an active agent of the CIA, asserting that this makes him unqualified for the presidency.
Additionally, the plaintiff requested the court to disqualify Tinubu on the grounds that he had previously forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government in a drug-related case.
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Owuru specifically asked the Supreme Court to apply section 157 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to remove Tinubu from office due to alleged control by foreign entities.
Owuru’s political party, the HDP, has been deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and in his suit marked SC/CV/667/2023, he included former President Muhammadu Buhari as a co-defendant.
However, when the case was called for hearing on Monday, Owuru, dressed in a lawyer’s wig and gown, sought to represent himself in court.
On May 25, 2023, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had already imposed an N40 million penalty on him for submitting a “frivolous” lawsuit to prevent Tinubu’s inauguration as president.
Owuru had also attempted to hinder ex-President Buhari’s swearing-in.
He asserted that INEC had collaborated with President Buhari to manipulate the results of the 2019 presidential election.
He argued that although the election was initially scheduled for February 16, 2019, INEC announced a postponement just five hours before the polls opened and subsequently held the election on February 23, 2019.
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Owuru claimed that prior to this postponement, he was declared the winner of a referendum conducted and monitored by both local and international organizations.
He testified that he received over 50 million votes in this referendum, which far exceeded the votes of other presidential candidates, including Buhari.
The British-trained lawyer, who was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1982, argued that ex-President Buhari’s presidency was unlawful.
Owuru contended that despite being the legitimate winner of the 2019 presidential election, Buhari had stolen his mandate and governed the country for eight years.
Thus, he argued that if Tinubu were disqualified for being unfit for the presidency, the Supreme Court should recognize him as president and order his immediate inauguration to regain his usurped mandate.
In addition to President Tinubu and Buhari, the suit lists the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, along with the Independent National Electoral Commission, as defendants.
