*Photo: CJN Ariwoola*
The Supreme Court on Friday distanced the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, from a purported meeting with the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, in London.
There had been several reports claiming that the duo met in London. It was reported that the CJN disguised in a wheelchair and was wheeled into the aeroplane to London.
But debunking the reports on Friday, the Supreme Court’s spokesperson, Festus Akande, said the reports were false.
He said though the CJN travelled out of the country, he was out for medical care not for meeting with the president-elect.
“The CJN has been in Nigeria, and presided over meetings of the National Judicial Council (NJC) held on 16 and 17 March,” Akande.
Akande explained that the CJN only travelled out of Nigeria briefly to London on 18 March for medical care.
According to him, the CJN was accompanied by NJC’s Secretary, Gambo Saleh.
“On 23 March, the CJN returned from his medical trip to London and later reported in the office (in Abuja), where he worked till 8p.m,” Akande said.
He added, “The only time the CJN travelled earlier this year was on 25 January, when he travelled for Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia. He returned on 29 January 2023.”
Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media and Publicity
APC Presidential Campaign Council had similarly on Thursday night, March 23, 2023 refuted reports of any clandestine meeting between the President-elect and the CJN.
In a statement titledNO CLANDESTINE MEETING BETWEEN CJN AND PRESIDENT-ELECT, Adenuga said “Our attention has been drawn to the grossly fake, misleading and malicious story about the Chief Justice of Nigeria Olukayode Ariwoola disguising 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.
“We refute emphatically that there has been no clandestine meeting between the President-elect and the respected Chief Justice of our country, any where. 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 wheel chair 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 so wide 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.”
Meanwhile, pictures of the CJN attending Jummat service in Abuja surfaced online on Friday.