The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of N40 million on Mike Ozekhome, a human rights activist and constitutional lawyer, for filing a ‘frivolous motion’ before the court in respect of the Imo State governorship tussle decided in 2019.
In a ruling by Justice Tijani Abubakar, he ordered the Senior lawyer to personally pay the N40m fine to the four respondents he dragged before the court.
Abubakar held in the ruling that the request was strange, frivolous, baseless, unwarranted, vexatious and irritating. He further held that the motion was a calculated design to demonise the Supreme Court.
Ozekhome, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) called to the Nigerian Bar over 42 years ago was fined the huge amount for bringing a motion before the apex court seeking to revalidate the suit that removed Emeka Ihedioha as governor of Imo State in 2019.
Those to be paid are the Action People’s Party, APP, Uche Nnadi, Uche Nwosu and the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC.
In the motion considered to be frivolous by the court, Ozekhome had asked the court for a consequential order to compel INEC to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Ihedioha to enable him spend a four-year tenure as Imo governor.
His grouse was that the incumbent governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma unlawfully spent the four years that Ihedioha ought to spend.
Among others, Ozekhome in the motion claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no candidate in the 2019 Imo governorship election, hence, Uzodinmma ought not to have been made governor on the platform of APC.
However, the apex court dismissed the motion on the ground that it had no jurisdiction to entertain such a motion.
