PEPC: Appeal Court describes resignation of a member of the tribunal as ‘false, misleading’

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Court of Appeal has officially described the reported resignation of a member of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), Justice Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo as false and misleading.
It was widely reported on social media that Justice Ugo has resigned from the bench citing demands from the executive branch that he fears would destroy the country’s democracy.

According to the said report,Justice Ugoh, in a statement, stated that siding with the administration on this issue would be the ‘death of Nigeria’s democracy,’ and that he could not keep mute in good conscience.

But responding to the said report, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Malam Umar Mohammed Bangari dismissed the report and appealed to the general public to ignore the fake news in its entirety.

Bangari spoke with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja in reaction to the wide spread 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.

In a statement, as reported by the online platform, Justice Ugo said that 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.

According to Justice Ugo’s purported statement, he was asked to “cripple the independence of the judiciary” by ruling in favor of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be Bola Tinubu.

In addition to this, he was asked to suppress evidence and dismiss cases that could have an impact on the election.

But, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, said that there was no iota of truth in the news.

The Chief Registrar 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 People’s Democratic Party (PD.

Bangari while faulting the report said that neither his office not the Information department of the Court was contacted before dishing out the what he called false report.

The Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Gregory Obi and PDP’ alongside Atiku are challenging the declaration of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.