New facts emerged Tuesday that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad have tested positive for the Coronavirus.
A member of the Supreme Court, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, made the disclosure at the unveiling of the national headquarters of the Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria in Abuja.
According to Saulawa, the CJN was already receiving treatment in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The CJN was, Monday, absent from the new legal year ceremony of the Supreme Court, where he was scheduled to preside over the inauguration of 72 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
The CJN absence at the much elaborated SANs inauguration reportedly threw the legal community into anxiety and may have triggered the suspicion that followed.
Muhammad is one of the high-profile Nigerians that have tested positive for the virus since Nigeria started witnessing resurgence of the virus.
But in a swift reaction,the Supreme Court of Nigeria Tuesday came out with a statement dispelling the CJN’s health status.
While clearing air on the issue in a statement, the Director of Press and Information, Supreme Court of Nigeria, Dr. Akande Festus, said there was no iota of truth in the claim as peddled by a section of the media.
According to DPI, there hasn’t been any indication made public or otherwise that has shown any anxiety over the CJN’s health.
Akande described the story as a concocted and product of the imagination of the author which according to him has failed the test of sound and investigative journalism.
The report which he called ‘sensational’ he insisted was capable of whipping up sentiments and could erode good values.
Akande stated, “In furtherance to the press statement earlier issued, I wish to state categorically clear that there is no medical report so far made available by anybody indicating that the Hon. CJN has tested positive for Coronavirus.
“Those peddling the rumour should go a step further to confirm from their sources and equally obtain the copy of whatever laboratory test result they are relying on.
“As of this moment of issuing this statement, no one has so far shown me or any other person in the Supreme Court a copy of the test result they are referring to 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 15th December, 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.
Blueprint reports that the whereabouts of the CJN is still uncertain as he has not been sighted at any official functions for some days now.
