By Divine Sam
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has imposed a N5 million fine on Ambrose Albert Owuru, a former presidential candidate, for filing a frivolous suit against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Owuru, who ran in the 2019 presidential election under the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), had sought to remove Tinubu from office, alleging that he was unqualified and had usurped his (Owuru’s) mandate.
Owuru’s lawsuit, dismissed by the Supreme Court, was not the first of its kind. The court noted that Owuru had previously filed similar cases that had been rejected, and his conduct during the proceedings was deemed unbecoming of a lawyer with over 40 years of experience. He was ordered to pay the N5 million fine to Tinubu as compensation.
The case stemmed from Owuru’s claims that he had won the 2019 election and that his mandate was usurped by former President Muhammadu Buhari and subsequently by Tinubu. Owuru’s suit also sought to disqualify Tinubu from office based on allegations of drug trafficking and links to the CIA. The suit was marked as SC/CV/667/2023, and the Supreme Court dismissed it, ordering its Registry to reject any future originating summons from Owuru that were deemed frivolous.
This latest ruling comes after the Court of Appeal had previously fined Owuru N40 million for filing a similar lawsuit. The fine is a clear message from the judiciary to discourage the filing of baseless legal actions that waste judicial time and resources.
Leave a Reply