The Supreme Court has penalised Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, with a N40 million fine for submitting a motion that the apex court deemed frivolous and vexatious.
News About Nigeria gathered that Ozekhome served as counsel for Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) concerning the 2019 Imo State governorship election.
The Supreme Court dismissed Ihedioha’s application, which sought to unseat Hope Uzodimma as the governor of Imo State.
In the application, Ihedioha requested the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a certificate of return to him as the duly elected governor in the 2019 election.
Justice Tijani Abubakar, who delivered the lead judgment on Tuesday, declared that the application lacked merit and was frivolous and vexatious.
He emphasised that the court did not have jurisdiction to decide on the matter, noting that the 60-day period stipulated for hearing election-related issues had already passed.
As a consequence, Justice Abubakar imposed a N40 million fine on Mike Ozekhome.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria is directed to pay the fine to the four respondents involved in the case, namely the Action Peoples Party, Uche Nnadi, Uche Nwosu, and INEC.
Ozekhome’s motion had sought a consequential order compelling INEC to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to Ihedioha, allowing him to serve a four-year tenure as the governor of Imo State.
The argument put forward by Ozekhome claimed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no valid candidate in the 2019 Imo governorship election, questioning the legitimacy of Hope Uzodimma’s governorship under the APC banner.
