The Supreme Court of Nigeria Tuesday refuted earlier report that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, has tested positive for COVID-19.
Blueprint recalls that the CJN’s absence at SANs’ inauguration held in Abuja reportedly threw the legal community into anxiety.
Thereafter, a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, who spoke at the unveiling of the national headquarters of the Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria (MULAN) earlier on Tuesday in Abuja reportedly said the CJN has been diagnosed of COVID-19.
However, the Director of Press and Information, Supreme Court of Nigeria, Dr. Akande Festus, in a statement said there was no iota of truth in the report.
The statement partly reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the story currently in circulation with the above caption ‘Anxiety over CJN health’ which was published on page 38 of This Day newspaper on Tuesday December 15, 2020.
“This is obviously a product of the imagination of the author of the concocted story which has literally failed the test of sound, investigative journalism as no form of inquiries was made by the Reporter before hitting the public domain with this baggage of falsehoods to mislead the public.
“It’s necessary to state that there’s no iota of truth in the claim being peddled by the publication, as there hasn’t been any indication made public or otherwise that has shown any anxiety over the CJN’s health.
“The Hon. CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad being unavoidably absent at a function is not enough to plunge into this premeditated conclusion that there’s now “anxiety over his health”.
“The other aspect of this monumental falsehood is the erroneous claim that the “CJN has not been seen in public for weeks.
“We are still at a loss as to where the Reporter got that malicious information from, as the CJN has been very active and even presided over the swearing in of the newly appointed Justices of the Supreme Court a few weeks back,” the statement added.
