The Court of Appeal, through its Media Officer Mrs. Sa’adatu Musa has denied reports that the list of 250 members of the Election Tribunal sworn in on 26th January, 2019 contains about 10 dead and retired judges.
In a statement issued by Mrs. Musa the Court of Appeal described the report as false, misleading and a total misrepresentation of the good intention of the President of the Appeal Court.
According to the statement:
“The attention of the Court of Appeal has been drawn to a malicious publication making the rounds in some portals that the names of 10 dead Judges featured in the list of the 250 Judges sworn-in on 26 January 2019, as Chairmen and Members of the Election Petition Tribunal.
In view of the above, we wish to state that there was no name of a dead or retired Judge on the list we sent to the Supreme Court for the swearing-in ceremony performed by His Lordship the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria Mr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammed.
The Court of Appeal therefore, finds this claim to be false, misleading and a total misrepresentation of the good intentions of the Hon. President aimed at building not only a vibrant judiciary, but an endearing democratic society.
The Hon. President had painstakingly through the efforts of the states Branches of the Nigerian Bar Association and the Chief Judges of the 36 states selected these men and women of integrity to become members of the Election Petition Tribunal.
The Court of Appeal therefore craves the indulgence of the members of the public to disregard this fake News in its entirety.”