The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has slammed a fine of N40 milion on the presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party, HDP, in the 2019 presidential election, Ambrose Owuru, for filing a suit to stop the swearing-in and inauguration of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29.
The Abuja-based lawyer and former presidential candidate, Owuru, had filed suit where he had sought to prevent the May 29 inauguration from taking place at the Eagles Square in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
But in a judgment on Thursday, the three-member panel of the appellate court was unanimous in holding that the appeal by Owuru and his party, the HDP, is an abuse of the court process.
In the lead judgment, pronounced by Justice Jamil Tukur, the Appeal Court held that the appeal was an invitation for the court to review its earlier decision, which it cannot do.
Justice Tukur averred further that the issues in the appeal had earlier been determined by the court, while sitting as an election petition court after the 2019 election, with a judgment given on August 22, 2019.
The appellate court equally found that the Supreme Court had also heard the case and pronounced a judgment, delivered on October 28, 2019.
Tukur held that the case, having been litigated up to the Supreme Court, was an abuse of the judicial process for Owuru and his party to seek to want to have the matter relitigated.
He upheld the January 30 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which earlier dismissed the case for being an abuse of court process.
Justice Tukur proceeded to dismiss the appeal and ordered Owuru to pay the respondents N10 million each in cost.
The respondents in the appeal are: President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Tinubu.
The appeal by Owuru and HDP was against the January 30 judgment by Justice Ekwo, dismissing their suit in which Owuru had sought to be sworn in as Buhari’s successor.
Tinubu will be sworn-in next Monday at the Eagles Square in Abuja, taking over from Buhari as Nigeria’s next president.
The flagbearer of the All Progressive Congress, APC, won the 2023 presidential election after defeating his major contestants, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party, LP.
