President Bola Ahmed Tinubu finds himself in another Supreme Court case over accusation of unlawfully assuming the presidency while facing an ongoing legal battle over the 2023 presidential poll.
The legal battle, constituted by a presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, Chief Albert Ambrose Owuru, seeks the notification of the inauguration of Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the apex bank.
Contending that Tinubu’s declaration as President undermines the rule of law, Owuru asserts that, due to Lis Pendens, Tinubu should not have presented himself for inauguration while being a party in the ongoing Supreme Court suit. Owuru, who contested the 2019 election on the Hope Democratic Party platform, previously sought a court order declaring him the constitutional winner of that election, a case that Tinubu joined as an interested party.
Owuru contested the 2019 presidential election on the platform of Hope Democratic Party (HDP) against former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Upon the conclusion of the election, he adjudged himself the winner of the election against the declaration of Buhari by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
His suit seeking an order of Court to declare him as the adjudged and constitutional winner of the 2019 election and currently pending before the Supreme Court was on May 18 this year, voluntarily joined by Tinubu as an interested party.
As such, a fresh motion on notice was served on Tinubu through the Chambers of Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN.
The ex-presidential candidate is also praying to the Supreme Court for an order restraining the respondents and, particularly Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from further operating the Federation Account pending the determination and resolution of the constitutional questions against the 2023 election.
The statement issued by Owuru, alongside a civil group, Hope Africa Foundation, in respect of the suit, read: “We want to place on record that Tinubu’s claim to the office of the President is affected by reason of his being Lis Pendens.
“This is so because having joined the pending suit on the subject of mandate usurpation by Buhari, nothing ought to have been done until the final resolutions of disputed issues.
“There is no doubt that the present act of self-help and claim to occupy the office of the president by any of the parties in this action is an act of self-help and violates the law and the doctrine of Lis Pendens which is to the effect that nothing should be done by parties to change or affect the subject matter before the court so as not to prejudice the existing adjudged acquired constitutional rights and mandate of Chief Owuru as the adjudged constitutional winner of the 2019 presidential election.
“It is on record that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in recognition of the doctrine of Lis Pendens and the existing suits on the issue of usurpation of mandate between Owuru and Buhari, joined the ongoing proceedings then in Court of Appeal on the 18th of May 2023 before his purported inauguration over the 2023 presidential electoral debacle.
” He is bound to await the outcome of the proceedings in the already existing issue of usurpation of constitutional mandate and entitlement to serve out the same by Owuru.
“The implication of this, by law is that the 2023 presidential election and its outcome which Tinubu was aware of before joining the suit, is subsumed and dependent on the outcome of the existing legal proceedings on the subject of the already adjudged and yet to be served constitutional mandate of Owuru to serve out the term of office of the President of Nigeria as required by law.
“Our laws in this regard concerning the doctrine of Lis pendens has been well affirmed by the Supreme Court in the case of Peter Obi vs Ngige (Supra) as parties are to maintain and strictly observe the fact of the existence of pending suits and efficacy and potency of undermining the court’s jurisdiction and engaging in act of self-help and a brazen usurpation of candidate, parties mandate, subject matter in the pending case.
“There is no doubt that this act of the present All Progressives Congress (APC) led central government in practical terms are clear acts act of usurpation.
“As law-abiding citizens, we urge that Nigerians exercise patience in the due and early resolution of these outstanding issues to know who truly is the authentic Nigerian President.
According to Owuru then, Buhari was usurping his tenure of office since 2019 because the Supreme Court had not determined his petition filed in 2019 in which he challenged the purported declaration of Buhari as the election winner.
His first suit was dismissed by Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on January 30, 2023, which he appealed at the Court of Appeal.
Recall that the Court of Appeal on May 25, in a judgment by Justice Jamil Tukur, who led a 3-man panel, refused to stop the May 29 inauguration of Tinubu. According to Justice Tukur, Owuru engaged in gross abuse of court processes by filing a frivolous, vexatious and irritating suit to provoke the respondents.
OGA go and sleep allow our president to breath well you smell like ass hole.