Court Refuses To Sack Buhari, Says Lawsuit Frivolous
Yesterday, the Federal High Court‘, Abuja Division dismissed a lawsuit that called for President Muhammadu Buhari to be impeached.
According to the court’s ruling, which was written by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the lawsuit filed by former presidential candidate Ambrose Owuru lacked validity.
Justice Ekwo declared the legal action to be not only statute barred but also a severe abuse of the legal system, characterizing it as baseless, frivolous, annoying, and vexatious.
The court went on to say that the lawsuit was an insult to the Supreme Court’s authority because it had previously rejected a similar request from the plaintiff.
The Hope Democratic Party’s (HDP) presidential candidate Owuru has petitioned the court to remove President Buhari from office, arguing that the election by which he had won reelection in 2019 was riddled with obvious irregularities.
In place of Buhari, who ran for president on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the plaintiff pleaded with the court to declare that he was the legitimate candidate who should have been sworn in.
He claimed, among other things, that by moving the earlier date it had set for the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, helped President Buhari influence the results against him.
He explicitly requested that the court decide whether INEC’s decision to move the election from February 16 to March 23, 2019 was lawful or not.
The complainant maintains that INEC violated the Constitution when the presidential election was shifted, and that the declaration of President Buhari as the winner of the illegal act should be deemed null and void and of no effect.
Owuru, a British-trained lawyer admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, testified in court that he had won a referendum that was held and watched by both international and domestic groups before the election was postponed.
In his judgement on Monday, Justice Ekwo dismissed the suit for being frivolous.
