The Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Saturday, described as
untrue reports credited to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode
Ariwoola, during the inauguration of a project built by Governor Nyesom Wike of
Rivers State.
The CJN was reported to have said he was happy that Governor
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State was among the five governors of the Peoples
Democratic Party loyal to Wike.
But the Director of
Press and Information in the Supreme Court, Dr Festus Akande, in a statement
issued in Abuja titled, “RE-CJN: I’m happy Makinde is among G5 Governors,” said
the comment by the CJN was twisted and misrepresented by the media.
The statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to a publication
with the above caption making the rounds in both conventional and social media.
We wish to state unequivocally clear that the CJN, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON had
never at any point said such during his brief remarks at the State Banquet
organised as part of the events lined up for the commissioning of the two
Judiciary projects undertaken by the Rivers State government.
“Issues bordering on misconceptions and misrepresentations
of this nature are not always strange in times like this when the country is
preparing for general elections, as some people may want to take advantage of
every opportunity to score very cheap goals. As we all know, this is the era of
aggressive and even unconventional politicking, so, there’s nothing that will
not be heard or seen at this crucial time, especially between now and February
2023, when the general elections will be conducted.
“People say whatever they choose to say, just to please
their selfish interests and inordinate desires. We can’t really pinpoint where
such barefaced falsehood is coming from; and certainly, we don’t also know at
what point the CJN said he was happy that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State
was a member of the now christened ‘Integrity Group’ or “G5 Governors.’
“Everyone knows that the CJN, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON, is a Judicial officer and not
a politician, as such, would never directly or remotely make such comments or
innuendoes.
“We wish to set the record straight by making it clear that
the CJN and other senior Judicial Officers drawn from different parts of the
country were in Port Harcourt on Thursday and Friday, November 24 and 25, 2022
to commission the two buildings to accommodate the Federal Judicial Service
Commission’s South-South Liaison Office and the Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili
Judicial Institute, that were conceptualised and constructed by the Rivers
State government.
“Even at the State Banquet organised as part of the events,
the CJN made it clear in his brief remarks, that he (CJN) was not in Port
Harcourt for the State Banquet but simply to commission the two projects as a
mark of honour for the Judiciary and Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili, CFR, JSC,
retd and later go back to Abuja thereafter.
“Similarly, he said he was very surprised to see the ‘G5
Governors’ (Integrity Group Governors), just as he equally expressed the same
surprise when he saw them in Ibadan, Oyo State, during the reception organised
in his honour by his state government in October 2022. His surprise
particularly stemmed from the fact that he saw his own State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde (who incidentally is a
member of the G5 Governors) at the Port Harcourt occasion. He equally stated
jocularly that being that Engr Makinde married from Rivers State and is equally
very close to Nyesome Wike, he would be
able to replicate the developmental strides of the latter in Oyo State for the
good of the citizenry.
“This, of course, is a comment that, ordinarily, ought to elicit applause and not myopic
misrepresentations, as governance is all about positive comparisons and healthy
competition. Anyone or group of individuals making these unconscionable assumptions
and pervading the misinformation are by implication, creating the impression
that it is now a crime for the CJN to have come from Oyo state, which
coincidentally, has a member of the group, Seyi Makinde, as the governor.
“Let it be noted that anything said, assumed, presumed,
reported or placed in the public domain outside the above facts, is simply a
mere figment of the imagination of such authors and doesn’t in any way
represent what the CJN said in Port Harcourt, as we are not ready to join issues
with such purveyors of misinformation.”
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