Supreme Court Warns Lawyers and Litigants to Stop the Media Trial of Matters
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has warned lawyers and litigants to stop the media trial of matters still before courts.
The apex court advices lawyers and members of the public to trust the judiciary in handling cases brought before it.
Justic Inyang Okoro, issued the warning on Thursday while delivering judgement on the appeal filed by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, to challenge the ruling of the presidential poll tribunal, on the 2023 presidential poll.
Justice Okoro expressed concern over the trend where litigants would be holding press conferences, analyzing and arriving at conclusion on cases still before courts.
In the process, justice Okoro, said supporters of litigants have resorted to sending of threatening messages to judges and justices of the Supreme Court.
Delivering the judgment on Obi’s appeal, Justice Okoro explained that all the issues raised by Obi had been dealt with in Atiku’s appeal.
The court also said the issue of the double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima ought not to have been brought before it, saying the matter had earlier been resolved by the court.
Read Also:
Supreme Court Reserves Judgement in Atiku/Obi’s Appeal on 2023 Presidential Poll
It, therefore, ruled that the appeal was lacking in merit.
Okoro said, “Our decision on earlier issues in Atiku’s appeal will abide by Peter Obi’s appeal. The issue regarding the double nomination of Vice President Kashim Shettima has been determined by this court and cannot be re-litigated.”
The other justices on the panel agreed with the lead judgment.
In a swift reaction, the PDP described the verdict as disappointing, arguing that it trashed Nigerians’ expectations.
“President Tinubu also needs to urgently tackle insecurity. The issue of insecurity has also marred the country. And those are problems he inherited from the previous government. Anybody who wants to be fair to him would have known that these problems were staged-managed, we knew these problems were coming and we’re going to fall into them on the new administration.”
So it also lies on us as citizens to support him. This is not a moment of agitation. This is not the moment to fight anybody, this is the time to build a country that we can all be proud of.”
