Supreme Court Dismisses Suit Against Tinubu, Fines Plaintiff N5 Million

The Supreme Court, on Monday, dismissed a lawsuit seeking to remove President Bola Tinubu from office.

In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, the court fined Chief Ambrose Owuru, the 2019 presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), N5 million for filing what it described as a frivolous case.

Owuru’s suit accused Tinubu of being an active agent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and claimed his previous forfeiture of $460,000 in a drug-related case in the United States rendered him unfit to serve as president. Owuru also urged the court to invoke Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution to disqualify Tinubu and declare him the rightful president.

The panel reprimanded Owuru for re-filing a suit previously dismissed three times and barred the Supreme Court Registry from accepting similar suits from him in the future. Justice Abba-Aji warned that Owuru’s conduct, unbecoming of a lawyer with over 40 years of experience, could warrant referral to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).

Owuru, who represented himself in court, was also criticized for attempting to address the court in lawyer’s attire despite being a plaintiff. The justices ordered him to remove his wig and gown before presenting his arguments.

The court noted that Owuru’s HDP was deregistered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and dismissed his claims that he won a referendum ahead of the 2019 presidential election. He alleged that former President Muhammadu Buhari “hijacked” his mandate and accused INEC of postponing the election to manipulate the outcome.

This was not Owuru’s first attempt to block a presidential swearing-in. In May 2023, the Court of Appeal fined him N40 million for filing a frivolous suit to stop Tinubu’s inauguration.

The Supreme Court reiterated that Owuru’s claims lacked merit and upheld previous rulings against him. The court threatened further sanctions should he continue filing baseless cases.