Suit seeking to sack Buhari to be delivered Monday

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja is set to deliver a landmark judgment on Monday, January 30 in a suit seeking the removal of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), from office over alleged illegalities in the 2019 presidential election.

The judgment billed to be delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo would also resolve a request seeking to stop the conduct of the 2023 presidential election scheduled for February 25.

A notice for the judgment delivery just sighted on Friday by journalists at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja indicated that the verdict would be handed down by 9 am by Justice Ekwo.

The notice was directly served on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation for President Buhari.

The PUNCH reported that Rivers State-born presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party in the 2019 election, Chief Ambrose  Owuru, had instituted legal action against Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Owuru, a British-trained constitutional lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984 however asked the Federal High Court to declare him as the winner of the poll.

Among other reliefs, he had asked the court to determine the legality or otherwise of the decision by INEC in 2019 during which it postponed the election from February 16 to March 23.

He claimed that INEC acted against the constitution in illegal and unlawful ways and manners the presidential poll was shifted and the declaration of Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the unlawful act should be declared null and void and of no effect.

The ground of his claim was predicated on the fact that the petition he lodged against Buhari had not been adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court as required by law.

The politician claimed that his petition at the Supreme Court was unjustly dismissed following his absence from the Apex Court due to discrepancies in the hearing dates conveyed to him.

He, therefore, prayed the court removes Buhari and declares him (Owuru) the authentic President and that Buhari should be compelled to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.

The HDP presidential candidate also asked the court to order his inauguration for a four-year tenure of office upon removal of Buhari from office and that the Federal High Court should stop INEC from conducting the 2023 presidential election.

While claiming that his tenure had been usurped by President Buhari, the plaintiff prayed that the court should compel Buhari to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.

Justice Ekwo had on November 4 last year fixed January 30 as the judgment date following the adoption of final addresses by Buhari, the AGF, INEC and the plaintiff.

(Punch)