Supreme court slams N5m fine on ex-Presidential candidate over frivolous suits against President Tinubu’s electoral victory

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed a suit challenging the presidential election victories of Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 and President Bola Tinubu in 2023.

In a judgment delivered today December 16, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, described the suit as ‘’frivolous and vexatious’ and imposed a N5 million fine on the Applicant, the 2019 presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru.

Owuru had alleged that he won the 2019 election and that the Supreme Court wrongly dismissed his case against Buhari’s re-election and Tinubu’s swearing-in for being statute-barred (filed out of time) without considering the substance of his case at the time

Owuru filed the suit against then-President Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and President Tinubu.

At the scheduled hearing on Monday, Owuru stated that his first motion was filed on February 26, 2024, seeking the leave of the court to restore his appeal against Buhari and Tinubu, which had been struck out by the apex court on January 29, 2024.

The apex court panel then asked him if he “honestly believes” that the application against the concluded elections was competent, without providing “the enrolled order” that struck out his previous appeal.

Owuru replied that his application was competent because, in his view, the court records, which he had challenged, should be determined based on several exhibits he has to prove his case. The Assistant Chief State Counsel, Adedayo Ogundele, told the apex court that Owuru’s matter had come before the Supreme Court in 2023, and it was dismissed.

“He sent a younger counsel, and the apex court dismissed it,” she said, emphasising that this was the third time the matter had come before the Supreme Court.

In a brief ruling, Justice Abba-Aji agreed with Tinubu and the AGF’s counsels that the application filed on February 26, 2024, was “incompetent and is hereby dismissed.”

“The processes filed by Chief Owuru are frivolous and vexatious, and unbecoming of a Senior Counsel of his years of experience (called to the bar in 1984). This is an abuse of court process and ought to be penalized for taking up so much of the court’s time,” the apex court stated.

The Supreme Court also awarded a fine of N5 million against the applicant in favour of President Tinubu.