Former Nigeria Presidential Candidate Tells Court To Stop Tinubu’s Inauguration

The 2019 presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Ambrose Owuru, has filed a suit, appealing to stop the inauguration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) as the President of Nigeria.

In the suit submitted on Tuesday, marked CA/CV/259/2023, Owuru is specifically asking for an order that will prevent President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from swearing in Tinubu as president on the 29th of May. As he predicated his case on the grounds that he was the rightful winner of the 2019 presidential elections, and as such, he has not served his tenure as required by law, he also prayed for “An order of prohibitory injunction compelling Buhari, AGF and INEC, their servants, agents and privies to preserve and give due cognizance and abstain from any further undertaking or engaging in any act of usurpation of adjudged acquired constitutional rights and mandate as winner of the 2019 presidential election.” 

In addition, Oworu is pleading for a further order ordering and notifying that any handover or inauguration organized and superintended by Buhari on May 29, 2023 other than the adjudged winner of the 2019 presidential election, which is the subject of the appeal, is to be treated as an “interim place holder” administration pending the hearing and decision of his substantive appeal on the constitutional interpretation of said election.

An eight-paragraph document that supports the request asks the Court of Appeal for a quick hearing before Tinubu’s inauguration. Adebayo Anafowode, an Abuja-based attorney, said under oath in an affidavit that was submitted to the Court of Appeal in Abuja that he was concerned that Owuru’s lawsuit against Buhari would be abandoned if it wasn’t granted a prompt hearing.

The motion, which was filed by Peter Odion, has been served to the President and the AGF through Mrs. Maimuna Lami Ashiru, a member of the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja, who also serves as their counsel, while INEC was served through the Head of the Legal Department and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. S.O. Ibrahim. As of yet, no date has been fixed for the hearing. 

Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi

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