The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja has imposed a N5 million fine on a former presidential candidate, Ambrose Albert Owuru, of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) for harassing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with a frivolous suit.
Owuru had earlier filed a suit, marked SC/CV/667/2023, praying the Apex Court to sack Tinubu on two major grounds of alleged non-qualification to hold office as Nigeria’s President and alleged usurpation of the office in contravention of the law.
He also asked the Supreme Court to declare him Nigeria’s President and order his immediate inauguration to reclaim his alleged usurped mandate, and also to disqualify Tinubu on account of the forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States of America over an alleged drug trafficking-related offense.
Specifically, Owuru prayed the Supreme Court to invoke Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution to remove Tinubu from office on the grounds of being under the control of foreign authorities, as he accused Tinubu of being an active agent of the CIA, a position he claimed disqualified Tinubu from holding the office of President of Nigeria.
Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji issued the order against the former presidential candidate while dismissing his fresh suit praying for the removal of Tinubu as Nigeria’s President.
Apart from the N5 million fines, the apex court ordered its Registry not to accept any frivolous originating summons from Owuru again.
It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal had previously imposed a fine of N40 million on Owuru, to be paid to Tinubu, INEC, and others, for filing a suit against them.
Defendants in the suit were former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Tinubu as 1st to 4th defendants, respectively.
Owuru, a British trained lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, insisted that he won the 2019 presidential election but alleged that his tenure was usurped by Buhari for eight years.
He claimed that his suit at the Supreme Court, which would have removed Buhari from office, was technically jettisoned by the Apex Court due to a mix-up in hearing dates.