Kehinde Fajobi
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a suit filed by Chief Ambrose Owuru, the 2019 presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), seeking to unseat President Bola Tinubu.
The court described the case as frivolous and imposed a fine of ₦5 million on Owuru.
The five-member panel, led by Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, warned the court registry against accepting similar frivolous suits from Owuru in the future.
Owuru’s case alleged that Tinubu was unfit to hold office, claiming he was an agent of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and had forfeited $460,000 in a drug-related case in the U.S. Owuru also argued that Tinubu’s presidency violated Section 157 of the Constitution.
The former HDP candidate, whose party was de-registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also alleged that ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year tenure was illegal.
Owuru claimed he was the rightful winner of the 2019 presidential election and accused INEC of manipulating the results.
Appearing in court wearing a lawyer’s wig and gown, Owuru was ordered to remove them before presenting his case.
The panel questioned why he re-filed a suit previously dismissed three times. Justice Abba-Aji chastised Owuru, stating his conduct was unbecoming of a lawyer with over 40 years of practice.
The Supreme Court also threatened to forward Owuru’s name to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for sanctions.
This is not the first time Owuru has faced financial penalties for his lawsuits. In May 2023, the Court of Appeal fined him ₦40 million for filing a similar case seeking to block Tinubu’s inauguration.
Owuru had previously argued that INEC manipulated the 2019 election by postponing the poll and claimed he won a referendum before the official election.
His claims, however, were dismissed as baseless by the courts.