NJC break silence on reported resignation of Presidential Tribunal Judge
According to Soji Oye, the National Judicial Council’s (NJC) head of information, Boloukuoromo Ugo, a justice on the court of appeal, has not resigned from the court hearing petitions about the presidential election.
A Twitter user named Umar Sani asserted that Ugo submitted his resignation due to “demands to knee-cap democracy.”
According to Sani, the judge said in his letter that he had been instructed to “cripple the independence of the judiciary” by siding with a particular political figure who was allegedly President Bola Tinubu.
“Justice Ugo’s resignation has caused a serious uproar and a setback to the activities of the presidential election petition court,” Sani alleged.
However, Oye said the allegations should be disregarded, adding that the aim is to distract Nigerians and set the tone for a narrative, in the event that the court’s judgement doesn’t favour the rumour peddlers.
Oye said the presidential election petition court will issue a formal statement to address the issues.
Meanwhile, Ugo’s alleged resignation is coming barely 48 hours after Jackson Ude, a Twitter user, reported that the president spoke with Olukayode Ariwoola, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), over the outcome of the presidential election petition.
Ude alleged that the CJN told Tinubu to prepare for a rerun of the election.
However, Festus Akande, spokesperson of the supreme court, said there was “no iota of truth” in the claim.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) also denied the allegation by Ude.
Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, standard bearers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP), are challenging the victory of Tinubu in the last election.
Abubakar and Obi recently submitted their final written addresses after closing their respective cases at the election tribunal.
The tribunal is yet to fix a day for the adoption of final written addresses and judgement in the petitions.