Supreme Court slams ex-presidential candidate with N5 million for seeking removal of Tinubu from office

For seeking the removal of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office without substantial reasons, Nigeria’s Supreme Court has slammed the former presidential candidate of Hope Democratic Party, HDP with N5 million.

The presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Ambrose Albert Owuru was asked to pay the amount Tinubu for attempting to oust the President on frivolous issues.

Owuru previously sought for the invocation of Section 157 of the 1999 constitution to remove Tinubu from office, alleging that President Tinubu was under the control of foreign authorities.

He claimed that he won the presidential election and that his responsibilities was usurped, hence, he should be restored and inaugurated as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In a lead judgment, Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji dismissed Owuru’s fresh suit praying for the removal of Tinubu as Nigeria’s president.

Owuru contested the 2019 presidential election against former President Muhammadu Buhari, but had continued to insist that the election was rigged against him.

The apex court also ordered the court registry not to accept any frivolous originating summons from Owuru again.
During the proceeding, Owuru claimed to be a lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, sought to argue his own case with his wig and gown on him.

Due to his dressing, the panel ordered him out of the Bar and directed him to remove his wig and gown before he could be allowed to address the court.

Having complied with the order, Owuru was asked why he filed the suit when three similar suits had been dismissed.

His efforts to convince the court to grant him audience were rejected as un-convincing.

Following his deviant attitude, the court threatened to refer him to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).

Justice Aba-Aji ruled that Owuru’s conduct was unbecoming of a lawyer of over 40 years, as he claimed to be.
In the end, the court dis¬missed his suit and ordered him to pay Tinubu N5 mil-lion.

The court berated him for taking the Supreme Court for a ride, wasting its precious time with baseless suit and grossly abusing court processes.

Before the suit was thrown out, Bode Olanipekun (SAN), who appeared for President Tinubu, had drawn the attention of the court to several cases of Owuru that were dismissed on account of frivolity.

He added that the direction of the fresh suit could not be understood because of the poor ways and manners it was couched by the applicant.

In his own response, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Taiwo Osipitan, assured that the conduct of the former presidential candidate would be referred to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

It would 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.

The new suit, marked SC/CV/667/2023, prayed the apex court to sack Tinubu on two major grounds: alleged non-qualification to hold office as Nigeria’s president and alleged usur¬pation of the office in con¬travention of the law.