Supreme Court Imposes N40m Fine on Senior Advocate Ozekhome for Frivolous Motion

The Supreme Court issued a N40 million fine to Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, for filing what the court deemed frivolous and vexatious motions related to the Imo State governorship tussle decided since 2019.

The fine was imposed on Ozekhome for presenting a motion to the Apex Court, attempting to revalidate the case that led to the removal of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo State in 2019

Justice Tijani Abubakar’s ruling ordered the senior lawyer,  Ozekhome, to personally pay the N40 million fine to the four respondents he brought before the court.

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 frivolous by the court, Ozekhome requested a consequential order, urging the court to compel INEC to issue a new certificate of return to Ihedioha, enabling him to fulfill a four-year term as the governor of Imo.

Ozekhome’s concern was that the incumbent governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, unlawfully occupied the four-year term that should have been served by Ihedioha

In his motion, Ozekhome argued, among other things, that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had no candidate in the 2019 Imo governorship election. Therefore, he contended that Uzodinma should not have assumed the role of governor under the APC platform.

However, the apex court dismissed the motion, citing its lack of jurisdiction to entertain such a request. In the ruling, Justice Abubakar described the plea as strange, frivolous, groundless, unwarranted, vexatious, and irritating.

He further stated that the motion seemed to be a deliberate attempt to discredit the Supreme Court.

Kanyi Daily recalls that Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won the 2023 Gubernatorial election in Imo State.