The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the suit seeking the disqualification of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential election over an alleged act of perjury.
The dismissal was sequel to the withdrawal of the appeal by the appellant’s counsel, Ukpai Ukairo, following court stance that the suit was statute barred.
The appellants, Kalu Kalu, Labaran Ismail and Hassy El-Kuris had approached the Apex Court to nullify the candidacy of President Buhari in the just concluded presidential poll over allegations of perjury.
The appeal followed the dismissal of their suit at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, on grounds that it was statute-barred and as such cannot be heard.
But delivering judgment in the suit, the five member panel of justices presided by Justice Mary Odili, upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had earlier dismissed the suit for lacking merit having not filed within 14 days as prescribed by law.
However the apex court in the judgment berated President Muhammadu Buhari for engaging a government lawyer in his personal affairs, warning that such actions run contrary to the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
“The court took notice of irregular
appearance of the counsel from the Federal Ministry of Justice representing the 1st respondent, President Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) in his personal capacity, this practice must be discouraged.
“Appeal withdrawn, the suit is hereby dismissed”, the apex court held.
In the Notice of Appeal marked: CA/A/436/2019, the appellants are asking the apex court for an Order to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal and hear the matter on merit and grant the reliefs sought in the Originating Summons.
The Court of Appeal had in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Idris, had on July 12, 2019, held that the singular fact that the suit was filed outside the 14 days provided by the law robbed the court of jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
The suit was accordingly dismissed for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
