Justice Mahmud Mohammed, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), ordered Barrister Okey Uzoho to pay the sum of N500,000 as fine for bringing a frivolous suit before the Supreme Court and wasting the time of the court on Monday, June 8, 2015.
The lawyer was ordered to pay the fine before the full panel of the apex court which included, Justices Walter Samuel, Nkanu Onnoghen, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed, Muhammad Saifullah Muntaka-Coommasie, Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, John Inyang Okoro and Amiru Sanusi, presided over by the CJN.
The lawyer is a representative of the former Action Congress of Nigeria now All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2011 gubernatorial election conducted in Akwa Ibom State and won by former governor Godswill Akpabio. His application was to relist a matter that had already been decided in favour of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), by the Supreme Court and had been laid to rest.
The motion was filed on May 27, 2015 and Justice Mohammed in his ruling said;
“The motion, filed on May 27, 2015, having been withdrawn without objection from the learned counsel to the respondent, is hereby struck out.
“There shall, however, be a N500, 000 cost to the respondents, to be paid by the learned counsel to the applicants, Mr. Okey Uzoho, for allowing himself to be used to bring this frivolous application to court.”
