Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has today dismissed the allegation making round in social media space over resignation of its five-man member handling the presidential petition tribunal, Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo, as fake news and should be ignored. One of an official at the appeal court who did not want his name to be mentioned described the rumour of the resignation as “fake news”, insisting that it was the handiwork of “evil rumour mongers,” saying such thing did not happened.
According to the source, “I was with some members of the panel yesterday and I can authoritatively tell you that there was nothing like that.
“In fact, we were shocked when our attention was drawn to the fake news. The true position is that parties in the petitions were given time to file and exchange their final written address. They are already doing that.
“Once the process is completed, the panel will communicate a date for the parties to appear in court to adopt their processes after which the petitions will be fixed for judgement. The source further explained, “So, it is absurd for someone to sit in a corner of his room and concoct lies from the figment of his or her imagination.
“In fact, our attention was equally drawn to fake news that a former Governor of Rivers State held a meeting with members of the court, outside the country.
“These are very laughable. How can the honourable justices on the panel travel abroad when they have enormous work pending on their desks?
He confirmed that “Please ignore the fake news. It is very unfortunate. Hopefully, before the end of the day, the Appeal Court will issue a formal statement on the matter.
Accordingly, the fake news trending on social media since yesterday claimed that a member of the presidential election petition court, Justice Boloukuoromo M. Ugo, had in “a shocking and unprecedented move”, resigned from the bench over pressure from the Executive arm of the government which he believed would destroy the country’s democracy.
The purported fake news claimed that, Justice Ugo, in a statement, maintained that siding with the government on the matter before the court, would be the “death of Nigeria’s democracy,” insisting that he could not in good conscience remain silent.
The fake news further added that Justice Ugo, in the said statement, disclosed that he was asked to “cripple the independence of the judiciary”, by ruling in favor of President Tinubu.
Recalled, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Kayode Ariwoola, had on Wednesday debunked the news that he had a telephone conversation with President Tinubu with respect to petitions that are seeking to sack him from office.
