*CJN did not travel to London to meet Tinubu— Supreme Court.
Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress, APC has said that it is not true that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola disguised himself to meet the country's President-elect, Bola Tinubu in London.
There were widespread media reports that the Chief Justice left Nigeria in a wheelchair and traveled to London, where he secretly met with Tinubu.
However, APC Presidential Campaign Council has described the story as a " pure concoction from hallucinating minds,"
who are out to mislead the people.
In a statement, entitled "No Clandestine Meeting Between CJN And President-elect, " and released on March 23, 2023, Bayo Onanuga,
Director, Media, and Publicity
APC Presidential Campaign Council said:
"Our attention has been drawn to the grossly fake, misleading, and malicious story about the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola disguising themself to meet President-elect Bola Tinubu in London.
"The story was a pure concoction from the hallucinating minds of hatchet men bent on creating doubts and public distrust about the legitimacy of our recent election, which was won by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Bola Tinubu, Nigeria's president-elect.
"We refute emphatically that there has been no clandestine meeting between the President-elect and the respected Chief Justice of our country, anywhere. It’s pure fabricated news, groundless in fact and authenticity.
"To show that the story was a mere salacious fiction, meant to draw traffic to the discredited purveyor, it claimed the Chief Justice left Nigeria for London on 11 March, on a wheelchair to board a plane.
"The President-elect left Nigeria on 21 March, 10 clear days thereafter. What kind of appointment or secret meeting will the two men have arranged in London, with such widely disparate arrival dates, except in the imagination of the false news merchants?
"We can confirm that the President-elect, who left Nigeria Tuesday, has not been in London.
He is right now in France to have a deserved rest, after a hectic campaign that began in January 2022.
"He will go to London thereafter before proceeding to Mecca for the lesser Hajj.
"As we move towards inauguration on 29 May 2023, Nigerians should expect more false and salacious news from a section of the Nigerian media, on the payroll of the opposition.
"We urge the media once again to cross-check their information from the President-elect media office before rushing to press."
Supreme Court's response.
Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.
Nigeria's Supreme Court also dismissed the claims of a secret meeting in London between the CJN and Bola Tinubu.
Supreme Court director of press and information, Festus Akande told Premium Times that the CJN has been in the country and presided over meetings of the National Judicial Council (NJC) held on March 16 and 17.
Akande further explained that Ariwoola briefly left Nigeria for London for medical care on March 18 and he was accompanied on that trip, only by Gambo Saleh, NJC’s secretary.
“On March 23, the CJN returned from his medical trip to London and later reported in the office (in Abuja), where he worked till 8 pm.
“The only time the CJN traveled earlier this year was on January 25, when he traveled for Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia. He returned on January 29,” Akande said.
Following INEC's declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election, both the PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi have gone to Court to challenge the result.
Politics and Opinion.
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