The Court of Appeal in Abuja has denied reports that a member of the five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petitions Court, Justice Boloukuoromo M. Ugo, has resigned.
The rumours of the alleged resignation, which began circulating on social media on Thursday, claimed that Justice Ugo resigned because he did not want to be seen as siding with President Bola Tinubu against those challenging his presidential victory at the court.
The reports also claimed that Justice Ugo felt that siding with Tinubu would mean the “death of Nigeria’s democracy.”
However, the Secretary of the PEPC panel, Mrs Josephine J. Ekperobe, has denied the reports, calling them “fake.”
“All fake pls. Thank you,” she said in response to an inquiry by the Whistler Newspaper about the reports.
The PEPC’s five-man panel was inaugurated to preside over petitions challenging the outcome of the presidential election declared in favour of President Tinubu by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
All the petitioners, Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar and the Allied Peoples Movement APM, alongside the defendants (INEC, Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and others), have closed their cases after presenting witnesses and tendering evidence to support their respective submissions.
The judgment on the petitions is expected to be delivered on or before September 16.
