On January 30, the Abuja-based Federal High Court is scheduled to issue a historic ruling in a case seeking President Muhammadu Buhari’s impeachment due to alleged irregularities in the 2019 presidential election.

A request to halt the holding of the 2023 presidential election, which is set for February 25, would also be resolved by the verdict that Justice Inyang Ekwo is expected to deliver.

The Federal Ministry of Justice in Abuja had posted a notice for the judgment delivery, which media had only seen on Friday. It stated that Justice Ekwo will give the decision by 9 am.

The notice was directly served on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation for President Buhari.

News media reported that Rivers State-born presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party in the 2019 election, Chief Ambrose  Owuru, had instituted legal action against Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Owuru, a British-trained constitutional lawyer called to the Nigerian Bar in 1984 however asked the Federal High Court to declare him as the winner of the poll.

Among other reliefs, he had asked the court to determine the legality or otherwise of the decision by INEC in 2019 during which it postponed the election from February 16 to March 23.

He claimed that INEC acted against the constitution in illegal and unlawful ways and manners the presidential poll was shifted and the declaration of Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the unlawful act should be declared null and void and of no effect.

The ground of his claim was predicated on the fact that the petition he lodged against Buhari had not been adjudicated upon by the Supreme Court as required by law.

The politician claimed that his petition at the Supreme Court was unjustly dismissed following his absence from the Apex Court due to discrepancies in the hearing dates conveyed to him.

He, therefore, prayed the court removes Buhari and declares him (Owuru) the authentic President and that Buhari should be compelled to refund all monies he collected as salaries, emoluments and security votes.

The HDP presidential candidate also requested that the Federal High Court order INEC to refrain from holding the 2023 presidential election and that he be inaugurated for a four-year term following Buhari’s ouster from office.

The lawsuit requested that the court order President Buhari to return any funds he received as wages, emoluments, and security votes while alleging that Buhari had seized his authority.

After Buhari, the AGF, INEC, and the plaintiff adopted final addresses on November 4 of last year, Justice Ekwo set the judgment date of January 30 as the day on which the case would be decided.