Appeal Court dismisses Justice Ugo’s purported resignation

The Court of Appeal has dismissed allegations concerning the purported resignation of Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo, a member of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

The Chief Registrar of the Court, Malam Umar Mohammed Bangari, during a chat with journalists in Abuja, described the allegation as false and misleading.

The news of Justice Ugo’s alleged resignation was circulated by a certain Umar Sani, a Twitter user, who claimed that Justice Ugo tendered his resignation citing “demands to kneecap democracy.”

According to Sani, Justice Ugo stated that siding with the government on this issue would be the “death of Nigeria’s democracy,” and that he could not remain silent in good conscience.

He added that Justice Ugo was asked to ‘cripple the independence of the judiciary’ by ruling in favour of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be President Bola Tinubu.

However, the Chief Registrar of the Court of Appeal, said that the information is false and that no Justices resigned from the Court of Appeal Bench.

Bangari added that Justice Ugo is still on the panel of Justices of the Presidential Election Petition Court handling the petitions by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Peter Obi, and Atiku Abubakar challenging the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.