The Court of Appeal headquarters, Abuja, has denied that a member of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo, has resigned from the five-man panel just as the Obi-Datti Media Office has appealed that its principals, Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti-Ahmed, and the judiciary be left alone.
Chief Registrar of the appeal court, Malam Umar Mohammed Bangari, told journalists that the report on Ugo’s resignation was the handiwork of armchair bloggers who would stop at nothing in reeling out fake and unsubstantiated news adding that there was no iota of truth in the report which has gained traction in media space.
Bangari said, “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 (PDP).
An 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.
In a statement, the Obi-Datti Media office said it has watched with profound concern the orchestration “by agents of retrogression to distract and defocus the nation’s Judiciary from the critical national assignment before them.”
It says further: “We find absolutely needless and utterly unacceptable some of the curious happenings around our Judiciary lately, starting with the threat of anarchy and chaos should the ruling party’s candidate be legally removed by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PECP); the allegations of a telephone conversation between the esteemed Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukoyade Ariwoola with some persons, which the Supreme Court has since denied, and most recently, the bizarre fake news claiming that one of the panelists at the ongoing hearing before the PEPC had resigned.
“Without a doubt, those behind these strange contrivances have their devious motives, which certainly are not in the national interest. Our Judiciary should not be burdened by these distractions when their entire focus should be on the critical national assignment, which requires their total concentration and everybody’s support and cooperation to conclude.
“It’s indisputable that the future of this country is tied to the outcome of the Judiciary’s assignment. Every hand must be on deck to help them pilot the ship of Nigeria State to safety away from perdition.
“Obi-Datti Media office, therefore, wishes to call on all patriots desirous of seeing a new Nigeria to desist from any action that may hinder the delivery of justice by their Lordships.
“Relatedly, we also want to use this medium to warn these rogue Troll and Fog Machine agents to desist from ongoing attempts to smear or entrap Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed under whatever ploy. We recall at least seven failed fake demarketing and discrediting campaigns against our Principals.
“We are all the more concerned about plans to escalate these desperate acts ahead of the PEPC judgment. Nigerians must not be gullible to believe or accept such deep, fake, and dubious ploys, all in the name of partisan politics. While we continue to appreciate our security agencies’ efforts to secure Nigeria, we implore them to ensure that our Principals are safe and secure in their persons, movement and properties as they go about their public and private endeavours.
“Obi-Datti Media office, therefore, wishes to call on all patriots desirous of seeing a new Nigeria to desist from any action that may hinder the delivery of justice by their Lordships or other forms of nefarious activities that may heat up the national polity.”