From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Supreme Court has imposed a fine of N5 million on a former presidential candidate under the platform of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Ambrose Albert Owuru, for harassing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with a frivolous and vexatious suit.
Owuru, who contested the 2019 presidential election against former President Muhammadu Buhari, was ordered by the apex court to pay the N5 million to Tinubu after dismissing his appeal.
Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji, who read the unanimous judgment, further ordered the Registry not to accept any frivolous originating summons from Owuru again.
Owuru, who claimed to be a lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, sought to argue his own case while wearing his wig and gown.
He was ordered out of the Bar and directed to remove his wig and gown before he could be allowed to argue his case.
Upon complying with the orders, Owuru was asked why he had come before the court again, having had his suits dismissed three times.
Although he tried unsuccessfully to convince the apex court to grant him an adequate audience, his explanations were rejected as unconvincing.
Following his recalcitrance, the court threatened to refer him to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC).
Justice Aba-Aji ruled that Owuru’s conduct was unbecoming of a lawyer with over 40 years of practice, as he claimed to be.
In the end, the court dismissed his suit and ordered him to pay Tinubu N5 million.
The court lambasted him for taking the Supreme Court for a ride, wasting its precious time with a baseless suit and grossly abusing court processes.
Before the suit was thrown out, Bode Olanipekun SAN, who appeared for President Tinubu, drew the court’s attention to several cases of Owuru that had been dismissed on account of frivolity.
He added that the direction of the fresh suit could not be understood due to the poor manner in which it was couched by the applicant.
Olanipekun SAN also said that it was difficult for him to apologise to the court on behalf of Owuru, as the applicant’s conduct had become unbearable in the practice of the legal profession.
In his own response, a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Taiwo Osipitan, assured that the conduct of the former presidential candidate would be referred to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
It will be recalled that the Court of Appeal had previously imposed a fine of N40 million on Owuru, to be paid to Tinubu, INEC, and others, for filing a suit against them.
The new suit, marked SC/CV/667/2023, prayed the apex court to sack Tinubu on two major grounds: alleged non-qualification to hold office as Nigeria’s president and alleged usurpation of the office in contravention of the law.
Defendants in the suit were former President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and Tinubu as the 1st to 4th defendants, respectively.
Owuru, a British-trained lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, insisted that he won the 2019 presidential election but alleged that his tenure was usurped by Buhari for eight years.
He claimed that his suit at the Supreme Court, which would have removed Buhari from office, was technically jettisoned by the apex court due to a mix-up in hearing dates.
He also prayed the apex court to disqualify Tinubu on account of the forfeiture of $460,000 to the United States of America over an alleged drug trafficking-related offence.
Besides the alleged forfeiture, Owuru accused Tinubu of being an active agent of the CIA, a position he claimed disqualified Tinubu from holding the office of president of Nigeria.
Specifically, Owuru prayed the Supreme Court to invoke Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution to remove Tinubu from office on the grounds of being under the control of foreign authorities.
He also asked the Supreme Court to declare him Nigeria’s president and order his immediate inauguration to reclaim his alleged usurped mandate.