Alex Enumah in Abuja
Barely four hours after the Supreme Court dismissed a suit challenging the qualification of president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the February 25 presidential election, a Federal High Court in Abuja, has also dismissed another suit by three individuals seeking to stop the May 29 inauguration, on alleged perjury.
Justice James Omotosho, in a ruling on Friday, dismissed the suit on the grounds that it was incompetent and lacking in merit.
The plaintiffs; Praise Ilemona Isaiah, Pastor Paul Isaac Audu and Anongu Moses, had approached the court for an order halting the inauguration of Tinubu as President of Nigeria, on the grounds that Tinubu supplied false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about his age and citizenship status.
But in his ruling, Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to initiate the suit in the first place, adding that the court also lacked necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit since it relates to a presidential election.
After holding that the case of the plaintiffs was frivolous and abuse of court process, the judge accordingly slammed a total cost of N17 million against the plaintiffs and their lawyers to serve as deterrent to others who may want to bring such frivolous, vexatious and time wasting processes before the court.
Details later.
