Babatunde Fashola, a former minister, has filed a petition to the acting Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to probe allegations that he drafted the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal verdict for the judges.
In a petition addressed to the IG on Monday, August 8, Fashola urged IGP Egbetokun to begin an investigation into the claims to clear his name and set the records straight.
The former minister’s solicitors argued in the petition that the allegations amount to nothing less than character assassination with a calculated view to achieving damaging effects against him in his profession as a legal practitioner.
The petition read in part:
“It is the position of our client that these orchestrated allegations coming at this critical time could be part of a wider campaign to undermine the judiciary by those who seek to manipulate the judicial institution for their own gain.
“Having regard to the importance of judicial independence in general and the sensitivity of the judicial proceeding of the Presidential Election Petition Court in particular, it is the position of our Client that the publications by the said Jackson Ude, @yorubasheik, and (@ReporteraNew are false and made for the purpose of causing inconvenience, danger, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred and needless anxiety to our Client, contrary to the provisions of section 24 of the Cybercrimes [Prohibition, Prevention, Etc, Act 2015.
“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 Nigerian judiciary which is guaranteed by Section 17 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.”
