The Supreme Court and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have denied social media posts on an alleged secret phone conversation between the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, and President Bola Tinubu.
They
denied the reports in separate statements on Tuesday and Wednesday.
They
were reacting to a media report suggesting that the two men recently had a
phone conversation focusing on how to pressurize the Presidential Election
Petition Court in Abuja to rule in favour of President Bola Tinubu and the APC.
President
Bola Tinubu’s victory at the 25 February presidential election is being
contested by two leading opposition party candidates – Atiku Abubakar and Peter
Obi.
There
is also the third petition filed against Mr Tinubu’s victory by the All Peoples
Movement (APM).
The
CJN wields enormous influence in presidential election cases, which will end up
at the Supreme Court.
He
can choose to appoint himself to head the seven-member panel that will give the
final verdict on the cases. Whether he chooses to be on the panel or not, he
has the prerogative to choose its members.
As
the head of the Supreme Court, the CJN is also head of the entire Nigerian
judiciary, who also oversees the National Judicial Council (NJC), the body that
is responsible for the appointment and disciplining of judges across the
country.
But
reacting to reports over Messrs Ariwoola and Tinubu’s alleged phone conversation,
the Director of Press at the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, on Wednesday, said
there was no such communication with either the president or anyone.
Mr
Akande also said, contrary to social media speculations, Mr Ariwoola did not
also have any phone call with the Director General of the State Security
Service (SSS), Yusuf Bichi.
He
said, “It is imperative to state clearly that there is no iota of truth in the
narrative, as there was no such telephone conversation between the CJN and
anyone.”
Mr
Akande said Nigerians “have been following the proceedings at the Presidential
Election Petition Tribunal with admirable enthusiasm,” urging that the public
allow the suit to be determined “instead of relapsing into the realm of
speculations and rumour peddling that will not do anyone any good.”
He
warned that “falsehood and mudslinging” would stall Nigeria’s progress.
“The
courts are statutorily established to serve the best interest of the masses,
and we are ever poised to do that to the best of our ability,” Mr Akande
assured.
He
further assured that the parties before the court over the disputed election
would be treated without bias, adding that “The rule of law and supremacy of
the Nigerian Constitution will always be upheld and applied in every matter
that comes before the courts.”
“The
public should be assured that justice will be done to all matters pending in
the various courts across the country, irrespective of who is involved,” he
added.
The
APC similarly denied the alleged phone conversation in a statement by Felix
Morka, the party’s national publicity secretary, on Tuesday.
The
party described the “speculations” as mischievous, adding that the Presidential
Election Petition Court should be allowed to do its job.
“We
have become aware of a decidedly mischievous and intentionally misleading tweet
by Mr Jackson Ude.
“He
alleged that President Tinubu had a telephone conversation with the CJN, in
which the CJN purportedly told the president and the APC to prepare for a
presidential election rerun,” Mr Morka said.
He
said it was disturbing and disgraceful for Mr Ude to fabricate a falsehood of
this kind on a matter of serious national importance that was actively under
review by the PEPC.
He
maintained that Mr Tinubu and the APC won the last presidential election without
a doubt.
Mr
Morka added that the party and Mr Tinubu did not need to engage in side
conversations with the CJN regarding pending petitions before the PEPC.
He
said as the core democrat that he was, Mr Tinubu respected the right of
aggrieved candidates in the election to seek redress for any grievances they
may have.
He
noted that the Nigerian constitution and the Electoral Act provided effective
guarantees of that right.
“The
PEPC should be afforded the time and space to perform its important constitutional
and statutory duty of adjudicating and delivering a verdict in the matter
without needlessly calling the integrity of our Judges into question.
“Falsehood
and conjecture by the likes of Ude only aim to inflame political passions,
create doubt and panic, and preemptively undermine the verdict of the courts in
this important matter.
“We
are confident that Nigerians are smarter and more discerning than to be
affected by this opposition brand of tasteless and crass mercenary expedition,”
the APC said.
Reacting
to the report, Mr Tinubu’s presidential campaign team described the story as a
“mere salacious fiction, meant to draw traffic to the discredited purveyor.”
Bayo
Onanuga, a spokesperson for the president-elect’s media team, who issued the
statement, noted that Mr Tinubu was still in Paris, France, and had not moved
to London.