The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to remove President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office and imposed a fine of ₦5 million on the plaintiff, Chief Ambrose Owuru.
Owuru, a former presidential candidate of the deregistered Hope Democratic Party (HDP) in the 2019 elections, filed the case directly at the Supreme Court. He alleged that President Tinubu was unfit for office, accusing him of being an agent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and citing a past forfeiture of $460,000 in a drug-related case in the United States.
He further claimed that he was the rightful winner of the 2019 presidential election and accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of illegally occupying the office for eight years. Owuru asked the court to declare him as president and order his immediate inauguration.
A five-member panel of justices, led by Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, unanimously dismissed the case, calling it frivolous. The panel also warned the Supreme Court’s Registry not to accept such suits from Owuru in the future.
The court criticized Owuru’s conduct, noting that similar cases he had filed had been dismissed multiple times in the past. Justice Abba-Aji warned that Owuru’s name could be referred to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for sanctions due to his actions.
Owuru argued that his mandate from a self-declared referendum conducted before the 2019 elections was stolen by Buhari, who he claimed manipulated the election with the help of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He said INEC’s last-minute postponement of the election allowed for irregularities.
He also demanded that Tinubu and Buhari refund all funds received during their time in office and called for the 2023 presidential election to be voided.
Owuru had previously approached the Court of Appeal in May 2023, seeking to stop Tinubu’s swearing-in. The court dismissed his case and fined him ₦40 million for filing what it described as a baseless suit.
The Supreme Court’s latest decision puts an end to Owuru’s repeated legal attempts to reclaim what he insists is his “stolen mandate.”
