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Court Orders Litigants, Lawyer To Pay Tinubu, APC N17m Fine In Suit To Stop Inauguration

Praise Ilemona, Pastor Paul Issac Audu, and Dr. Anongu Moses, who collectively filed a lawsuit to prevent the swearing-in of Bola Tinubu as the new President, have been ordered by Justice Omotoso to pay a fine. They are required to jointly pay the President-Elect a sum of N10M, and an additional N5M to the All Progressives Congress (APC), who were among the seven defendants in the case.

Justice Omotoso also ruled that an annual interest rate of 10 percent would be applied to the judgment debt until it is fully settled.

The lawyer representing the three litigants, who initiated the lawsuit, was directed to pay N1M to both Tinubu and the APC.

During the proceedings, the counsel for the litigants pleaded with the court for leniency and suggested that the court should advise them against pursuing frivolous lawsuits in the future.

On the other hand, Tinubu’s counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, argued for the dismissal of the case, citing the lack of legal standing of the three plaintiffs to initiate such a lawsuit. Fagbemi informed the court that none of the plaintiffs had participated in the primary election that resulted in Tinubu’s election, yet they chose to harass him through legal action.

Furthermore, Fagbemi contended that the litigants engaged in an extensive abuse of the court process by filing multiple cases against Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress in different courts without any reasonable cause of action.

In their lawsuit, the three plaintiffs sought to halt the May 29 inauguration, claiming that Bola Tinubu had provided false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission regarding his age and citizenship status.