Toba Owojaiye reporting
Abuja , Nigeria
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is facing a legal challenge at the Supreme Court, accused of unlawfully inaugurating himself as President amid an ongoing legal dispute regarding the 2023 presidential poll. Chief Albert Ambrose Owuru, a presidential candidate in the 2019 election, invokes the doctrine of Lis Pendens, urging the Apex Court to nullify Tinubu’s inauguration.
Owuru, a Constitutional lawyer, argues that the election that declared Tinubu as President was illegal given the unresolved lawsuit against Tinubu and others at the Supreme Court (No. SC/667/2023). The suit involves Owuru and the Hope Democratic Party as Appellants, with Respondents including former President Muhammadu Buhari, AGF, INEC, and Tinubu.
Truth Live News reports that Owuru contends that Tinubu’s declaration by INEC undermines the Supreme Court and established law, asserting that Tinubu, being a party in the pending suit, should not have presented himself for inauguration. Owuru, who contested the 2019 election on the Hope Democratic Party platform, seeks a court order to declare him the rightful winner based on his pending Supreme Court case.
In a fresh motion, Owuru requests the Supreme Court to restrain Tinubu from operating the Federation Account until constitutional questions about the 2023 election are resolved. The contention is that Tinubu, aware of the suit, breached the doctrine of Lis Pendens, making his inauguration vulnerable to dismissal.
A statement by Owuru and the Hope Africa Foundation emphasizes that Tinubu’s claim to the presidency is affected by Lis Pendens. The statement underscores that any act of self-help, like Tinubu’s purported inauguration, violates the law and the doctrine of Lis Pendens, which prevents parties from changing the subject matter before the court.
The statement refers to Tinubu joining the ongoing proceedings in the Court of Appeal on May 18, 2023, recognizing the existing suits on mandate usurpation between Owuru and Buhari. The legal implication, according to the statement, is that the outcome of the 2023 presidential election depends on the resolution of existing legal proceedings concerning Owuru’s constitutional mandate.
Despite facing dismissal in earlier courts, Owuru stands firm on his claim as the constitutional winner of the 2019 election. His argument centers on Buhari allegedly usurping his tenure since 2019 due to the Supreme Court not deciding on his petition challenging Buhari’s purported victory.
As the legal saga unfolds, political pundits , conspiracy theorists and doomsday callers are calling this the banana peel or Archilles heel that is capable of toppling President Tinubu’s administration.