Tinubu, others N40Million Richer as Appeal Court Orders Ex-Presidential Candidate To Pay for Plotting To Stop Inauguration

Matilda Omonaiye/

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered the former presidential candidate of Hope Democratic Party, Ambrose Owuru, to pay a fine of N40 million for filing an inconsequential suit against the inauguration of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Information Nigeria had reported that, Owuru in a suit marked CA/CV/259/2023 asked the court to stop President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, from inaugurating the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29.

Owuru, who participated in the 2019 presidential election, said he won the poll and has not spent his tenure as required by law.

According to him, President Buhari has been usurping his tenure of office since 2019 because the Supreme Court has not determined his petition on the outcome of the election.

However, in its ruling on Thursday, a three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Jamil Tukur ordered the politician to pay the fine of N10 million each to President Buhari, the AGF, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Tinubu.

The panel held that Owuru embarked on gross abuse of the court process by filing a frivolous, vexatious, and irritating suit to provoke the respondents.

It added that Owuru’s grievances on the 2019 presidential election were not only strange but unnecessary.