There have been claims that one of the Justices presiding over the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) has tendered his resignation from the bench, citing pressures from the executive.
The purported resignation emanated from a report published by the Igbo Times Magazine on Wednesday 19th July, 2023, where it claimed that Justice Boloukuoromo M. Ugo was being compelled to rule in favour of a certain political candidate, widely believed to be President Bola Tinubu.
The report quotes the judge as saying that supporting the government on the matter in question would effectively signal the “death of Nigeria’s democracy.”
How True are these claims?
Although the publication based its report on a statement purportedly issued by Justice Ugo, it failed to provide evidence to back its claims.
The newspaper’s report also reveals a significant flaw in the natural sequence of events, as it mistakenly portrays the elections conducted on February 25 as still being in the future.
“According to Justice Ugo’s statement, he was asked to ‘cripple the independence of the judiciary’ by ruling in favor of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be Bola Tinubu, the front-runner in the upcoming presidential election.
“In addition to this, he was asked to suppress evidence and dismiss cases that could have an impact on the election,” the newspaper said.
The erroneous portrayal of the election as “upcoming” undermines the credibility of the newspaper’s reporting and raises concerns about the accuracy of the information presented.
As the news of Justice Ugo’s purported resignation continued to reverberate, the Court of Appeal has dismissed the allegations as false and misleading.
The Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal Malam Umar Mohammed Bangari, firmly asserted that no Justices have resigned from the Court of Appeal Bench, and Justice Ugo remains an active member of the panel of Justices election petitions.
Verdict:
The alleged resignation of Justice Boloukuoromo M. Ugo, is therefore false and should be disregarded by the public.