By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has set the stage for definite hearing today (Friday) in a fresh suit seeking to stop the inauguration of the President- elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29.
The Court ordered that the suit marked
CA/ABJ/CV/259/2023 seeking to prevent Tinubu from being inaugurated as Nigeria’s new President to take over government on May 29, must be heard unfailingly by 3 p.m. today.
To clear coast for hearing of the suit, the appellate court on May 18 heard a joinder motion by Tinubu and argued by Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN Chambers and in a brief ruling, granted Tinubu’s request and joined him as 4th respondent along with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC in the matter.
Immediately after joining Tinubu in the suit on the ground that he has interest that could be jeopardised, the Court thereafter ordered that Buhari, AGF, INEC and Tinubu as 1st to 4th respondents should file their Respondent Briefs and serve the appellants by 10 a.m. this morning.
The court also issued an order that the appellants should file their reply brief and serve the respondents by 12 noon today and subsequently fixed the suit for hearing by 3 p.m. also today.
The hearing notice to the effect is on the notice board of the Court of Appeal and was confirmed by the first appellant in the matter, Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru.
The suit is instituted by a Presidential candidate in the 2019 Presidential election and constitutional lawyer, Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru and his political party, Hope Democratic Party (HDP).
Owuru who was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1982 is praying the Court of Appeal in Abuja to prohibit President Muhammadu Buhari, Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from inaugurating the 2023 President- elect on May 29.
The politician who participated in the 2019 presidential poll on the platform of Hope Democratic Party (HDP) wants Buhari, AGF and as INEC stopped from taking any further steps on the 2023 presidential election that produced Tinubu as winner.
Owuru, who claimed to be adjudged Constitutional winner of the 2019 presidential election, predicated his grouse against inauguration of Tinubu or anybody else as successor to Buhari on the ground that he is the constitutionally adjudged winner of the 2019 election and has not spent his four-year tenure as required by law.
Among others, Owuru insisted that President Buhari has been usurping his tenure of office since 2019 because the Supreme Court has not determined his petition filed in 2019 in which he challenged the purported declaration of Buhari as the election winner.
His first suit was dismissed by Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja on January 30, 2023 prompting his movement to the Court of Appeal to ventilate his position.