By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja
All is now set by a Federal High Court in Abuja to deliver a landmark judgment on Monday, January 30 in a suit seeking removal of President Muhammadu Buhari from office on account of alleged illegalities in the 2019 presidential election.
The judgment billed to be delivered by Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo will also resolve a request seeking to stop the conduct of the 2023 Presidential election.
A notice for the judgment delivery just sighted by our correspondent at the Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja indicated that the verdict would be handed down by 9 am by Justice Ekwo.
The notice was directly served on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation for President Buhari.
A Presidential candidate in the 2019 election on the platform of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru instituted the legal action against Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Among others, the Presidential candidate wants the court to determine the legality or otherwise of the INEC’S decision in 2019 during which it shifted the election from February 16 to March 23, 2019.
He claimed that INEC acted against the Constitution in the illegal and unlawful ways and manners the presidential poll was shifted and that declaration of Mohammadu Buhari as winner of the unlawful act should be declared null and void and of no effect.
Owuru, a British-trained constitutional lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984 however asked the Federal High Court to declare him as winner of the poll.
The ground of his claim was predicated on the fact that the petition he lodged against Buhari has not been adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court as required by law.
The politician claimed that his petition at the Supreme Court was unjustly dismissed following his absence in the Apex Court due to discrepancies in the hearing dates conveyed to him.
He therefore prayed the court to remove Buhari and declare him (Owuru) the authentic President and that Buhari should be compelled to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.
The HDP Presidential candidate also asked the court to order his inauguration for a four-year tenure of office upon removal of Buhari from office and that the Federal High Court should stop INEC from conducting the 2023 presidential election.
Claiming that his tenure is being usurped by President Buhari, the plaintiff prayed that the court should compel Buhari to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.
Justice Ekwo had on November 4 last year fixed January 30 as the judgment date following the adoption of final addresses by President Buhari, Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the plaintiff, Chief Ambrose Albert Owuru.
