A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed May 27, 2022, for hearing in a fresh suit seeking to upturn the 2019 election of President Muhammadu Buhari and to declare his presidential seat vacant.
Former presidential candidate, Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru instituted the court action challenging the return of President Buhari for a second term of office.
The suit is marked FHC/ABJ/CS/480/21 with the title” Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru and HDP Versus President Muhammadu Buhari and two others”.
The two others on the originating summons are the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and the Attorney General of the Federation AGF and Minister of Justice as co-defendants.
When the matter came up for mention before Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo, President Buhari was not in court and was also not represented by any legal practitioner.
The Judge found that Buhari as the 1st defendant in the suit was not served with the hearing notice as required by law.
Consequently, the court fixed another date of May 27 to enable hearing notice to be served on Buhari for hearing of the suit.
Owuru’s move is coming more than two years after he contested for Presidency against Buhari during the 2019 presidential election.
Owuru, a British-trained constitutional lawyer, called to the Nigerian Bar in 1982 wants the court to declare Buhari as an unlawful President, illegally occupying the presidential seat at the Aso Rock Villa.
The plaintiff who stood for the 2019 presidential poll on the platform of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) is asking the court to declare him (Owuru) as the authentic winner of the poll.
Among other reliefs, he is seeking an order of the court directing his immediate inauguration to take over from Buhari.
In the suit, instituted on June 16, 2021, against Buhari and two others, Owuru claimed he won the February 16. 2019 Presidential poll and that his suit against Buhari at the Supreme Court was inconclusive due to some errors on the adjourned date.
He wants the Federal High Court to declare that he is entitled to serve out a tenure of four years after his formal inauguration.
The HDP presidential candidate also wants Buhari removed from office immediately and be compelled to refund all salaries, allowances and emoluments he collected while being in office as the President unlawfully.
Owuru pleaded with the court to give an order that salaries, allowances and emoluments be paid to him from May 29, 2019, till date when he ought to have been sworn in.
The plaintiff further applied for an order of perpetual injunction restraining Buhari, Attorney-General of the Federation AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from further organising and conducting any Presidential election in 2023 to enable him complete his four-years term when inaugurated.
