By Deborah Musa
The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the hearing date of a suit seeking to declare President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 presidential election invalid and declare his seat vacant to May 27, 2022
The hearing date was adjourned because the 1st defendant, President Buhari, has not been served with the hearing notice as required by law.
Former presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) Chief Albert Ambrose Owuru, who contested in the 2019 presidential election against President Buhari, is challenging the return of Buhari for a second term of office and wants 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, have the president ordered by the court to refund all salaries, allowances,, and emoluments which should be paid to him from May 29, 2019, till date when he ought to have been sworn in.
In the suit, instituted on June 16, 2021, against Buhari, INEC and AGF,
In a suit instituted on June 16, 2021, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/480/21 with the title “Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru and HDP Versus President Muhammadu Buhari, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice as co-defendants, Owuru claimed that 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.
When the matter came up for mention before Justice Inyang Ekwo, President Buhari was not in court and was also not represented by any legal practitioner.
Consequently, the court adjourned the matter to May 27 to enable hearing notice to be served on Buhari for hearing of the suit.
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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.
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 plaintiff further applied for an order of perpetual injunction restraining Buhari, Attorney-General of the Federation AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and 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.
