Connect with us

Politics

Ex-presidential Candidate Fined N40m For Trying To Stop Tinubu’s Inauguration

Published

on

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on Thursday, declined to stop the swearing-in of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on May 29, even as it slammed N40million fine against the appellant.

The court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, described as frivolous, the appeal, which was brought before it by a former presidential candidate of the defunct Hope Democratic Party, HDP, Chief Ambrose Owuru.

Advertisement

It ordered the appellant to pay damages to the tune of N10m, to each of the respondents in the appeal.

Cited as 1st to 4th respondents in the matter, were; President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as well as the President-elect, Tinubu.

Delivering the lead judgement in the matter, Justice Jamil Tukur, held that the erstwhile presidential candidate, Owuru, engaged in gross abuse of the judicial process.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: I Won’t Disappoint Nigerians, Tinubu Assures, As He’s Conferred National Honour

The appellate court held that the “strange” suit he filed to stop Tinubu’s inauguration as President, was not only vexatious but all aimed to irritate the respondents.

The court held that issues Chief Owuru raised against Tinubu’s swearing-in, bordered on the presidential election that held since 2019, which it noted was previously dismissed by the Supreme Court for want of merit.

Advertisement

It held that the attempt by the appellants to resurrect the case that died since 2019, was aimed at pushing the lower courts to embark on a collision course with the Supreme Court.

It, therefore, dismissed the appeal and awarded punitive damages against the appellant.

It will be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja had on January 30, also dismissed the suit which Chief Owuru, who is also a legal practitioner, filed to remove President Buhari from office.

Advertisement

In the judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the trial court maintained that the legal action was baseless, frivolous, irritating and vexatious, adding that the suit had become statute barred since it was based on the presidential election that held four years ago.

READ ALSO: What I Discussed With Ex-UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair – Tinubu

Justice Ekwo further held that the suit was a direct affront to the supremacy of the Supreme Court which had earlier decided a similar request by the plaintiff.

Advertisement

Specifically, Owuru, who was the presidential flag-bearer of the HDP which has since been de-registered by INEC, had approached the court, praying it to sack President Buhari from office, insisting that the election through which he won his re-election in 2019, was fraught with manifest irregularities.

The plaintiff urged the court to declare that he was the authentic person that ought to have been sworn in as President instead of Buhari who contested the said election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

He had among other things, contended that INEC assisted President Buhari to manipulate the outcome of the election against him by shifting the earlier date it fixed for the poll.

Advertisement

Owuru prayed the court to determine the legality or otherwise of INEC’s decision to postpone the election date from February 16 to March 23, 2019.

According to the plaintiff, INEC, acted against the Constitution by “the illegal and unlawful way” the date for the presidential poll was shifted, adding that the declaration of President Buhari as winner of the unlawful act should be declared null and void and of no effect.

 

Advertisement

Owuru, who is a British-trained lawyer that was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984, told the court that prior to the postponement of the election, he emerged as the winner of a referendum he said was conducted and monitored by both foreign and local organizations.

READ ALSO: Court Moves To Consolidate All Petitions Against Tinubu

He told the court that he had at the end of the said referendum, garnered over 50million votes, which he said was far and above the number of votes that other candidates that contested the presidential election secured.

Advertisement

Owuru argued that the petition he lodged against Buhari after the election was not adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court as required by law.

He claimed that his petition was unjustly dismissed by the apex court following his absence that was occasioned by discrepancy in the hearing date that was served to him.

He, therefore, urged the high court to validate his case by removing Buhari and declaring him the President.

Advertisement

He further applied for an order to compel President Buhari to refund all monies he “illegally” collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.

More so, the plaintiff prayed the court to halt the 2023 presidential election and order his immediate swearing in as President for a four-year tenure of office.

Meanwhile, following the dismissal of his case and the conduct of the presidential election on February 25, Owuru, approached the appellate court to stop the swearing-in of the President-elect, a prayer the court refused on Thursday.

Advertisement

Advertisement
Comments

Politics

UPDATED: Why I Resigned From PDP – Sen. Urhoghide

Published

on

By

Senator Mathew Urhoghide, representing Edo South Senatorial District, on Wednesday announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This was contained in a letter to the acting chairman of the party and made available to newsmen in Benin.

Advertisement

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Account in the letter, said that the decision was due to the irreconcilable differences and squabbles within the PDP at the national and in the state.

His letter reads in part: “I write to formally inform you and entire member of the PDP that I am resigning my membership of the party, effective immediately.

READ ALSO: Edo 2024: Edo Senator, Urhoghide, Resigns Membership Of PDP

Advertisement

“My decision arose out of the negative political energy emanating at the moment from the irreconcilable differences and squabbles within the PDP at the national level and especially in my dear state.

“These squabble have spiked to the level that have made it impossible for someone who is a confirmed democrat to function and grow as I envisage in my political journey

“This letter is fulfilling the promise I made to the leader of the PDP that I will consult and inform formally when and if I decided to step out of the PDP.

Advertisement

” I am grateful to the party which yielded me the opportunity to achieve the mission of serving as a two-term Senator .

“Which afforded me the opportunity to express my self and in a way that I have been able to affect my senatorial district,” he said.

READ ALSO: Oyo Police Storm Motor Park Chair, Auxiliary’s Hideout, Arrest 78 With Arms

Advertisement

Urhoghide noted that the opportunity has helped him to build lasting friendship within the national and state party hierarchy and at the Senate.

He added: “These friendship I shall draw on going forward, and above all imbibed in me knowledge and experience that I could not have gotten anywhere else.”

Urhighide, however, solicited for prayer as he took the bold step in the belief that it was the purpose of the almighty God in his interference in the affairs of men.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Politics

Edo 2024: Edo Senator, Urhoghide, Resigns Membership Of PDP

Published

on

By

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State has lost the membership of Senator Matthew Aisagbonriodion Urhoghide, an influential member and leader of the party in the state.

Urhoghide is the current senator representing Edo South in the National Assembly.

Advertisement

Urhoghide’s resignation is contained in a letter sent to the press of the senate today.

READ ALSO: Court Adjourns Peter Obi’s Petition Over Employees Illness

The former Senator is rumored to be oiling his political machinery to contest the 2024 governorship election in the stats on the platform of the Labour Party.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Politics

Wike No Longer In PDP, Says NEC member

Published

on

By

A member of the Peoples Democratic Party’s National Executive Committee, Timothy Osadolor, says the immediate-past governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, is no longer a member of the party, given his conduct before, during and after the 2023 general elections.

Osadolor, who gave the hint in a telephone conversation with The PUNCH on Tuesday, noted that the leadership of the party had decided to isolate Wike and render him inconsequential in the affairs of the PDP.

Advertisement

According to him, Wike’s recent public outings wherein he appeared to be leaning towards the All Progressives Congress, give him away as a man in perpetual craving for the spotlight at all times and regardless of the cost to his image as an opposition political leader.

He said, “The PDP has ignored Wike because the man is no longer himself. There are more ways to deal with people apart from sanctioning them. You can keep someone in isolation. He (Wike) can boast that he is the one that stayed away but is it not better to stay away than come to party activities and nobody wants to associate with you? He has been given a cold treatment because he went to court to procure a judgment that says he cannot be suspended but there is no judgment that says he cannot be avoided. That is what the PDP has been doing to him and technically, if Wike wants to say the truth, he will tell you that he is no longer a member of the PDP. No PDP leader or member behaves the way he does.”

But in a swift reaction, a chieftain of the PDP and immediate past Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chris Finebone, said Wike remained a bona fide member of the opposition party.

Advertisement

Describing Osadolor’s comments as wishful thinking, Finebone said he does not have any power to speak for the party.

READ ALSO: Ministerial Appointment: Disquiet In APC Over Wike, Tinubu Romance

He stated, “We can’t identify who he represents, but I think it is wishful thinking. It is wishful thinking and the man who is said to have said that is inconsequential as far as we are concerned.

Advertisement

“And so, whatever he has said is of no effect. His Excellency, the former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is 110 per cent a member of PDP and nothing has changed. And nothing can change it.”

On the accusation that Wike has been hobnobbing with Tinubu, he said it was petty and frivolous.

 

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Trending