An official of Nigeria’s Supreme Court has said that a fire outbreak that gutted a judges' chamber in the capital Abuja on Monday morning was not triggered by an appeal against President Bola Tinubu’s election victory.
"The fire outbreak has nothing to do with the election appeal. (We have established that) it was caused by an electrical fault which could happen anywhere and these are things that happen daily," Festus Akande, the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s Public Relations Officer, told Arise TV.
He emphasised that there was "no single connection" between the fire incident and the election case.
"This incident occurred in a chamber equipped with a computer, other equipment and a library which are used by any judge occupying the chamber. Books and a computer device were affected, but those are replaceable (items)," Akande said.
Swiftly put out
The fire, which broke out early Monday morning, was swiftly put out, according to authorities.
The inferno affected a relatively small part of the multiple-wing Supreme Court complex.
Akande said social media users exaggerated the magnitude of the fire, playing down the rumours in an interview with Premium Times.
"From what is being said on social media, it is as if someone went there and set the whole Supreme Court on fire… The fire is not as serious as they make it appear," he said.
February 25, 2023 Nigerian presidential election runner-up Atiku Abubakar moved to the Supreme Court to challenge President Tinubu’s win after the election court upheld Tinubu’s victory.
Insufficient evidence
The second runner-up, Peter Obi, also filed his appeal at the Supreme Court of Nigeria against the judgement that threw out his petition seeking the nullification of the president’s win.
On September 6, Nigeria’s election court ruled that the petitioners, Atiku and Obi, did not prove electoral malpractice that led to Tinubu’s disputed win.
On Monday morning, social media was awash with allegations that the Supreme Court of Nigeria fire was lit to interfere with evidence in the election appeal.
