The Supreme Court of Nigeria will today rule on a petition by a former presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Owuru, to sack President Bola Tinubu from office on the allegation that the President is not qualified to be President.
Owuru, the presidential flag-bearer of the Hope Democratic Party, HDP, in the 2019 general election, claimed that President Tinubu is an active agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, of the United States of America, USA, a position he said made him unfit to occupy the presidential seat.
The Supreme Court fixed Monday, December 16, to hear the matter.
A hearing notice issued to the parties read: “Please kindly take note that SC/CV/667/2023 Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru & Anor VS President Muhammadu Buhari & 3 Ors at the Supreme Court of Nigeria sitting at Abuja is slated for the hearing of Motions on Monday 16/12/2024.
The plaintiff urged the apex court to disqualify Tinubu on the account that he had earlier forfeited the sum of $460,000 to the government of the USA in a drug-related case.
He specifically prayed the Supreme Court to invoke section 157 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and oust Tinubu from office for being under the control of foreign authorities.
Besides, Owuru, whose political party, HDP, had since been re-registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in his suit marked: SC/CV/667/2023, joined ex-President Muhammadu Buhari as a defendant in the matter.
The appellant, a lawyer, also averred that ex-President Buhari’s tenure was illegal, claiming that he was the valid winner of the 2019 presidential poll, in which Buhari highjacked his mandate and piloted affairs of the country for eight years.
He claimed that a suit he earlier lodged before the apex court to kick Buhari out of office was technically jettisoned by the court due to a mix-up in the hearing dates.
Consequently, he argued that upon the disqualification of Tinubu for being unfit to hold the top job, the apex court should pronounce him as President and order his immediate inauguration to enable him to reclaim his usurped mandate.
Aside from President Tinubu and Buhari, other Defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
It will be recalled that the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal had, on May 25, 2023, imposed an N40 million fine against the plaintiff for filing a “frivolous” suit to stop Tinubu from being sworn in as President.
Owusu had also attempted to stop ex-President Buhari’s swearing-in.
He claimed that INEC assisted President Buhari in manipulating the outcome of the 2019 presidential election.
He contended that though the election was originally fixed for February 16, 2019, the INEC, about five hours before the commencement of the poll, announced a postponement and later held the electoral exercise on February 23, 2019.
Owuru claimed that before the postponement, he had emerged as the winner of a referendum he said was conducted and monitored by both foreign and local organizations.
He told the court that he had, at the end of the said referendum, garnered over 50 million votes, which he said was far and above the number of votes that other candidates that contested the presidential election, including Buhari, secured.
Owuru argued that the petition he lodged against Buhari after the election was not adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court as required by law.
He claimed that his petition was unjustly dismissed by the apex court following his absence, which was occasioned by the discrepancy in the hearing date that was served to him.
He, therefore, urged the high court to validate his case by removing Buhari and declaring him the President.
He further applied for an order to compel President Buhari to refund all monies he “illegally” collected as salaries, emoluments, and security votes.
More so, the plaintiff prayed the court to halt the 2023 presidential election and order his immediate swearing-in as President for a four-year tenure of office.
Following the dismissal of his case and the conduct of the presidential election on February 25, Owuru, approached the appellate court to stop the swearing-in of the then President-elect, Tinubu, a prayer the court refused.
