By Ayo Yusuf
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied insinuations that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, has informed President Bola Tinubu to prepare for a rerun election.
Reacting to a social media post by one Jackson Ude who claimed to be privy to the CJN’s private phone chat with Mr. Tinubu, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, and two other Justices of the Supreme Court, the APC urged Nigerians to discountenance such “mischievous and intentionally misleading” statements.
For the avoidance of doubt, the party said Mr. Ude’s claim that the phone conversation had been leaked to United States authorities and as a result the two Supreme Court justices have been banned
from entering the United States is pure fabrication.
In a statement discrediting the story, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said Nigerians are “smarter and more discerning” than to be affected by Ude’s “opposition brand of tasteless and crass mercenary expedition.”
The full statement reads:
“We have become aware of a decidedly mischievous and intentionally misleading tweet by one Mr Jackson Ude. He alleged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in telephone conversation with the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, in which the CJN purportedly told the President and APC to prepare for a presidential election rerun.
”It is disturbing and disgraceful for Mr Ude to fabricate a falsehood of this kind on a matter of serious national importance that is actively under review by the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC).
“President Tinubu and our Party won the last Presidential election without a doubt, and do not have any need to engage in side conversations with the CJN regarding pending petitions before the PEPC.
As the core democrat that he is, the President respects the right of aggrieved Candidates in the election to seek redress for any grievances that they may have. The Constitution and Electoral Act provide 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 Mr. 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.”
