BREAKING: Tinubu faces fresh legal battle in court over 2023 presidential election

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been brought before the Supreme Court in a petition that alleges his unlawful inauguration as President while legal actions against the conduct of the 2023 presidential poll are still pending. Chief Albert Ambrose Owuru, a presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, filed the petition, invoking the doctrine of Lis Pendens.

Owuru contends that Tinubu’s declaration as President by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is inconsistent with the doctrine of Lis Pendens, given the yet-to-be-determined suit against Tinubu at the Supreme Court. The ongoing case, with No. SC/667/2023, involves Chief A.A. Owuru and the Hope Democratic Party as Appellants, with Respondents including former President Muhammadu Buhari, AGF, INEC, and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The petitioner argues that Tinubu’s participation in the pending suit should have precluded him from presenting himself for inauguration as the winner of the 2023 presidential poll. Owuru emphasizes that such an act amounts to an affront to the Supreme Court and established legal principles.

Owuru had contested the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the Hope Democratic Party (HDP) against former President Muhammadu Buhari. Despite his claims to victory, Buhari was declared the winner by INEC. Owuru’s suit seeking a court order to declare him as the constitutional winner of the 2019 election is still pending before the Supreme Court.

In the fresh motion served on Tinubu, Owuru seeks an order restraining the respondents, especially Tinubu, from operating the Federation Account until the constitutional questions against the 2023 election are resolved.

The petitioner contends that Tinubu’s awareness of the pending suit and his voluntary involvement as an interested party make his purported inauguration a violation of the doctrine of Lis Pendens.