On Wednesday evening, several claims that Justice Boloukuoromo M. Ugo, a member of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), resigned from the bench surfaced on social media.

The claim first emanated from The Igbo Times Magazine, an online platform popular for publishing stories that favour the Igbo culture and making unsubstantiated claims.

According to this platform, Ugo issued a statement saying “he was asked to ‘cripple the independence of the judiciary’ by ruling in favor of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be Bola Tinubu, the front-runner in the upcoming presidential election.”

This claim has been circulated by Twitter users and several newspapers.

CLAIM: Justice Ugo issued a statement that he was asked to rule in favour of a political candidate.

Justice Ugo Resigns, Citing Demands to 'Kneecap' Democracy, Says 'Siding with Tinubu' Would Mean 'The Death of Nigeria's Democracy

Full details 👇👇https://t.co/gP2lDAX45D pic.twitter.com/GPHOxmyyf3

— Igbo Times Magazine (@Igbotimesnews) July 19, 2023

VERIFICATION: FIJ scoured the internet for reports predating the newspaper’s publication and found no newspaper reports or statements confirming Justice Ugo’s alleged resignation.

We checked the Court of Appeal website and social media handles and found nothing that confirmed the claim. We also called the court’s headquarters, but the number was switched off. FIJ sent a mail but there was no response as of press time.

We also called the Supreme Court to find out if they had learnt of such development. The responder told FIJ that he saw the story trending on social media but there had been no statements to that effect.

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FIJ also called lawyers involved in the presidential election petitions before the tribunal, and on condition of anonymity, they told FIJ they had neither heard of the resignation of any judge nor seen a statement to that effect.

FIJ then subjected the report to further scrutiny and found that while the headline referred to the tribunal hearing, the body referred to an alleged upcoming election.

Some excerpts read, “According to Justice Ugo’s statement, he was asked to ‘cripple the independence of the judiciary’ by ruling in favor of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be Bola Tinubu, the front-runner in the upcoming presidential election.

“In addition to this, he was asked to suppress evidence and dismiss cases that could have an impact on the election.

“Justice Ugo’s resignation has caused an uproar among members of the legal community, who have expressed shock and dismay at the executive branch’s interference in the judiciary.

“Some have called for an investigation into the matter, while others have called for protests and demonstrations. Meanwhile, the election campaign has been thrown into disarray, with many wondering if the election can be considered free and fair under these circumstances.”

The presidential election was concluded on February 25, 2023, and results were announced days after, meaning there are inconsistencies in the report.

The platform made similar unfounded claims in the past. On July 18, 2023, it reported a story with the headline ‘Trump Vows to Remove Tinubu from Presidency if Elected, Citing Allegations of Drug Trafficking and Insisting That a Drug Dealer Shouldn’t Rule Over 200 Million Nigerians’.

This claim was untrue, and going by the United Nations’ standards, no leader can remove a democratically elected leader of another sovereign country.

CONCLUSION: There are no evidence that Justice Ugo released a statement alleging a plot to subvert justice. Also, the reasons suggested by the media outfit for his alleged resignation are inconsistent with his assignment on the tribunal.

VERDICT: The claim that Justice Ugo released a statement alleging that he was being cajoled into subverting justice at the tribunal is false.