Former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has petitioned the Department of State Service (DSS) to investigate the peddlers of fake news about his alleged involvement in the drafting of the judgement for the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
Jackson Ude alleged that Fashola and some lawyers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were writing a judgement the ruling party intends to hand over to the judges.
Ude also alleged that Fashola supervised the rigging of the 2023 Presidential election in favour of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He added that Fashola had allegedly written the judgement for Judges in the 2019 Presidential election Tribunal that sealed former President Mohammadu Buhari’s victory.
In response, Fashola, through his spokesperson Hakeem Bello, condemned the allegations, describing those responsible as “agents of destabilisation.”
Fashola after filing formal petitions against the offensive tweets and online reports with the management of X, formerly known as Twitter, and the National Communications Commission (NCC) has now unmasked the perpetrators.
The former two-term governor of Lagos State on Tuesday in a letter signed by his lawyer, Olanrewaju Akinsola and addressed to the Director General of DSS petitioned the Security Service to arrest Annexurel – Tweet of @jacksonpbn, Annexure I – Tweet of @yorubasheikh and Annexure Ill – Tweet of @ReporteraNews.
“We are Solicitors to His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde R. FASHOLA, SAN, CON, the immediate past Honourable Minister of Works and Housing [Our Client], and we have his instructions to interface with you in respect of the above-captioned matter,” Akinsola wrote.
“The attention of our Client has been drawn to a tweet published on Wednesday, 2 August 2023 on microblogging site, X [formerly known as Twitter] by one Jackson Ude tweeting under the handle of @jacksonpbn with the headline: EXPOSED: FASHOLA IS WRITING PEPT JUDGEMENT FOR JUDGES.
“The said Jackson Ude went on to publish and state that: “Former Lagos Governor and former Minister for Works, Babatunde Fashola and some APC lawyers are allegedly writing the judgment Bola Tinubu and APC intend to hand over to the Presidental Election Petitions Tribunal, PEPT, to adopt.
“Fashola who is alleged to have supervised the rigging of the 2023 Presidential election in favour of Tinubu, was also alleged fo have written the judgment for Judges in the 2019 election Tribunal that sealed Mohammads Buhari Presidential election victory.
“The former Lagos Governor has remained quiet since after the elections but have been keeping close tabs with Judges handling the Presidential elections petition.
“The Election Tribunal bas adopted all final address but yet to announce a date for Judgment. Fashola, according to informants, is working day and might to conclude his proposed judgment and band over to the PEPT Judges.
“The Judges aside monetary compensations have been promised elevation to the Supreme Court should they accept Fasbola’s version,” Fashola’s lawyer stated.
He said that the publication was accompanied by a portrait of his Client and the portrait of His Lordship Honourable Justice Haruna S. Tsammani JCA, the Presiding Justice of the PEPT.
“In the light of the foregoing, we hereby request your office to cause the publications to be investigated with utmost urgency and seriousness as they have implications not only for the person of our Client but for the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the Nigerian judiciary which is guaranteed by Section 47 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999,” Fashola’s lawyer stated.
