Fashola petitions IGP over allegation of drafting Tribunal judgement
The former Governor of Lagos, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has petitioned the acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun over allegations writing Tribunal judgement.
Fashola and some lawyers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have been accused recently in twitter of drafting the judgment for judges at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), a claim Fashola has described as “baseless and defamatory”.
The 2023 Nigeria’s presidential election is currently at an election tribunal, with at least two candidates contesting the validity of the election.
In a petition addressed to the IGP and written by Olanrewaju Akinsola, his counsel, Fashola, claimed that the allegation was spread using the microblogging website Twitter by Jackson Ude, Yoruba Sheikh, and Reportera.NG.
The former Minister of Works and Housing, stated that the assertion constitutes character assassination and has grossly violated the decent fundamentals of public enlightenment.
“It is the position of our client that the publications by the said Jackson Ude, @yorubasheik, and @ReporteraNew are false in their entirety and have excessively breached the decent fundamentals of public enlightenment that freedom of the press is constitutionally about.
“It is our client’s position that the totality of the three publications amount to nothing less than character assassination with a calculated view to achieving damaging effects against him in his profession as a legal practitioner.
“Having regard to the importance of judicial independence in general and the sensitivity of the judicial proceeding of the presidential election petition court in particular, it is the position of our Client that the publications by the said Jackson Ude, @yorubasheik, and @ReporteraNew are false,” the petition stated.
According to the petition, the allegations were made to cause inconvenience, danger, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred and needless anxiety toward Fashola, contrary to the provisions of section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act 2015.
“In the light of the foregoing, we hereby request your office to cause the publications to be investigated with utmost urgency and seriousness as they have implications not only for the person of our client but for the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the Nigerian judiciary which is guaranteed by Section 17 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999,” the petition added.
In an earlier statement released on Monday, August 7, by his special adviser for media, Hakeem Bello, Fashola voiced his disgust with how the information was conveyed on social media.
The former governor urged security organisations to take legal action against people who propagate false information.
Fashola responded to the accusation by stating that the charges were entirely baseless because he has been away from Abuja for a considerable time.
He branded the people responsible for these troubling accusations as destabilising agents.
Fashola said that he has started submitting legal petitions to the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the operator of the microblogging website Twitter in response to the tweets and online publications.
