The Court of Appeal has debunked the reported resignation of a member of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo describing it as false and misleading.
Chief Registrar of the Court, Malam Umar Mohammed Bangari while dismissing the report appealed to the general public to ignore the fake news in its entirety.
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Bangari spoke with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja in reaction to the widespread news on the purported resignation of the PEPC member.
The news of the purported resignation of Justice Ugo from the Bench, citing demands “to kneecap democracy”, broke earlier today on the internet.
The online report stated that Justice Ugo resigned from the bench, citing demands from the executive branch that he believes would destroy the country’s democracy.
The online report claimed Justice Ugo said siding with the government on the petitions challenging the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu would be the “death of Nigeria’s democracy” and that he could not in good conscience remain silent.
The purported report said Justice Ugo was asked to “cripple the independence of the judiciary” by ruling in favour of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be Bola Tinubu.
He was alleged to have been asked to suppress evidence and dismiss cases that could have an impact on the election.
But, Bangari, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, said that there was no iota of truth in the news.
He explained that Justice Ugo is still on the panel of Justices of the court handling the petitions by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PD.
Bangari, faulting the report, said neither his office nor the Information Department of the Court was contacted, before what he described as a false report was made public.
The Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Gregory Obi and the PDP’ alongside Atiku are challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.