Supreme Court Dismisses Suit Seeking Tinubu’s Removal Over Drug and CIA Allegations
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed a lawsuit aimed at removing President Bola Tinubu from office. The suit, filed by Ambrose Owuru, the presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party in the 2019 elections, was based on allegations involving the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and drug-related issues.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the court deemed the suit frivolous and imposed a fine of N5 million on Owuru. The court also instructed the Supreme Court Registry not to accept any further frivolous cases from the plaintiff.
Owuru had claimed that President Tinubu was an active agent of the CIA, arguing that this made him unfit for the presidency. He also alleged that Tinubu had previously forfeited $460,000 to the U.S. government in a drug-related case, urging the court to disqualify him under Section 157 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, due to alleged foreign influence.
The case, marked SC/CV/667/2023, also included former President Muhammadu Buhari as a defendant. When the hearing commenced, Owuru represented himself, appearing in legal attire to argue his case.
This is not the first time Owuru has faced legal setbacks. Earlier, on May 25, 2023, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal fined him N40 million for filing a “frivolous” suit to prevent Tinubu from being sworn in as president. Owuru had previously attempted to block Buhari’s inauguration, claiming that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) aided Buhari in manipulating the 2019 election results.
He contended that the election, originally scheduled for February 16, 2019, was postponed by INEC just hours before voting began, leading to a rescheduled election on February 23, 2019. Owuru claimed to have won a referendum conducted prior to the election, garnering over 50 million votes, significantly more than what Buhari received.
Owuru argued that his mandate was hijacked by Buhari, who served for eight years unlawfully. He requested the Supreme Court to declare him the rightful president following Tinubu’s disqualification, seeking an immediate inauguration to reclaim his alleged usurped mandate.
In addition to President Tinubu and Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Justice, and INEC were named as defendants in the suit.
