A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking the removal of Muhammadu Buhari as president.
The presiding judge, Inyang Ekwo, on Monday delivered the judgment in the suit filed by Ambrose Owuru, the 2019 presidential candidate of Hope Democratic Party.
Ekwo held that the suit was statute barred and constituted an affront to the supremacy of the supreme court of Nigeria, while describing the suit as “baseless, frivolous, irritating, and vexatious in its entirety.”
Owuru had sued Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission challenging the outcome of the 2019 elections.
The plantiff prayed the court to declare the president’s seat vacant and swear him in as the authentic winner of the 2019 elections.
He also asked the court to determine whether or not INEC had the legal backing to shift the 2019 presidential election from February 16 to February 23.
Owuru further prayed the court to compel Buhari to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments, and security votes since he was declared president in 2019.
He also asked the court to order his inauguration for four-year tenure of office upon the removal of Buhari and stop INEC from conducting the 2023 elections.
It would be recalled that Owuru had instituted the legal action against Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Owuru, a British-trained constitutional lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984 asked the Federal High Court to declare him as the winner of the poll.
Among other reliefs, he had asked the court to determine the legality or otherwise of the decision by INEC in 2019 during which it postponed the election from February 16 to March 23.
He claimed that INEC acted against the constitution in illegal and unlawful ways and manners the presidential poll was shifted and the declaration of Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the unlawful act should be declared null and void and of no effect.
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.
He, therefore, prayed the court removes Buhari and declares him (Owuru) the authentic President and that Buhari should be compelled to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.
Owuru also asked the court to order his inauguration for a four-year tenure of office upon removal of Buhari from office and that the Federal High Court should stop INEC from conducting the 2023 presidential election.
While claiming that his tenure had been usurped by President Buhari, the plaintiff prayed that the court should compel Buhari to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.
Justice Ekwo had on November 4 last year fixed January 30 as the judgment date following the adoption of final addresses by Buhari, the AGF, INEC and the plaintiff.
