Court rejects ex-presidential candidate’s suit seeking Buhari’s removal

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed a suit filed by a former presidential candidate of Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Mr Ambrose Owuru against the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2019 presidential election.

Delivering judgment in the suit, Justice Inyang Ekwo, dismissed the suit on three major grounds.

Justice Ekwo held that the suit was an abuse of court process, was statute barred and was an affront on the supremacy of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The judge also held that the suit was baseless, frivolous, irritating and vexatious in it’s entirety.

Owuru, a presidential candidate in the 2019 election on the platform of HDP instituted the legal action against Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the suit, Owuru had prayed the court to declare the presidential seat vacant and swear him in as the authentic winner of the 2019 presidential election.

He also asked the court to determine the legality or otherwise of the INEC’S decision in 2019 during which it shifted the election from Feb. 16 to March 23, 2019.

He claimed that INEC acted against the constitution in the illegal and unlawful way and manner the presidential poll was shifted and that declaration of Buhari as winner of the unlawful act should be declared null and void and of no effect.

Owuru, asked the court to declare him as winner of the poll.

The ground of his claim was predicated on the fact that the petition he lodged against Buhari had not been adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court as required by law.

The politician claimed that his petition at the Supreme Court was unjustly dismissed following his absence in the apex court due to discrepancies in the hearing dates conveyed to him.

He therefore prayed the court to remove Buhari and declare him (Owuru) the authentic President and that Buhari should be compelled to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.

The HDP presidential candidate also asked the court to order his inauguration for a four-year tenure of office upon removal of Buhari from office and stop INEC from conducting the 2023 election.

This, he said, was on the grounds that his tenure was being usurped.