Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has thrown out a suit seeking prohibition of the swearing-in of the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29.
It could be recalled that the suit was filed by the 2019 presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru, against President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and Tinubu.
The appellant alleged that he won the 2019 election and that the Supreme Court wrongly dismissed his case against Buhari’s re-election for being statute-barred (filed out of time) without looking at the substance of his case at the time.
But lawyers to the respondents unanimously asked the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the decision of the Federal High Court which initially dismissed the claims for being baseless.
On Thursday, the three-man panel of the court led by Justice Jamil Tukur held that the suit was frivolous and an abuse of the court process.
The court held that the Supreme Court had passed its verdict and as such there was no basis for the appellant to return to the court with the same allegation.
Justice Tukur held that the appeal was an invitation for the court to review its earlier decision which it cannot do.
He further said that the issues in the appeal had earlier been determined by the court while sitting as an election petition court after the 2019 election with a judgment given on August 22, 2019.
The panel slammed a N10 million fine on the appellant to be paid to each respondent.
