Court fines ex-presidential candidate N40m for ‘frivolous suit’ against Tinubu’s inauguration

The Court of Appeal, Abuja on Thursday slammed a fine of N40 million on a former presidential candidate, Ambrose Owuru, for bringing a frivolous suit before it.

Owuru, who is the plaintiff in the suit, was seeking to stop the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu on May 29.

However, the Appellate Court ordered the politician to pay the fine of N10m each to the 1st – 4th defendants – President, Muhammadu Buhari, and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Malami, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Tinubu.

Justice Jamil Tukur who read the lead judgment of the three-man panel of the court held that Owuru embarked on gross abuse of the court process by filing a frivolous, vexatious and irritating suit to provoke the respondents.

The Court of Appeal held that the grievances of Owuru against the 2019 presidential election were uncalled for because the grievances had been pursued up to the Supreme Court and were dismissed for want of merit.

Justice Tukur said that the action of Owuru to resuscitate the case that died in 2019 at the Supreme Court was aimed at making the lower courts go on a collision course with the supremacy of the apex court.