Political agents using fake news to distract judiciary, says Obi-Datti media office

The Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed media office says “rogue trolls” are deploying fake news to distract the judiciary.

Obi and Baba-Ahmed were the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election.

LP and its candidates are challenging the outcome of the election at the tribunal.

In a statement signed by Diran Onifade, head of the Obi-Datti media office, the group decried recent happenings as it pertains to the judiciary.

It said the campaign of calumny against the bench and bar is being orchestrated by “agents of retrogression to distract and defocus the judiciary from its critical national assignment”.

“We find absolutely needless and utterly unacceptable some of the curious happenings around our judiciary lately, starting with the threat of anarchy and chaos should the ruling party’s candidate be legally removed by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC),” the statement reads.

“The allegations of a telephone conversation between the esteemed Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukoyade Ariwoola with some persons, which the Supreme Court has since denied, and most recently, the bizarre fake news claiming that one of the panelists at the ongoing hearing before the PEPC had resigned.”

The office added that the judiciary should not be burdened by these distractions.

“It’s indisputable that the future of this country is tied to the outcome of the judiciary’s assignment. Every hand must be on deck to help them pilot the ship of the Nigerian state to safety away from perdition,” the statement reads.

“Obi-Datti Media office, therefore, wishes to call on all patriots desirous of seeing a new Nigeria to desist from any action that may hinder the delivery of justice by their Lordships.

“Relatedly, we also want to use this medium to warn these rogue Troll and Fog Machine agents to desist from ongoing attempts to smear or entrap Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed under whatever ploy.

“We recall at least seven failed fake demarketing and discrediting campaigns against our principals.

“We are all the more concerned about plans to escalate these desperate acts ahead of the PEPC judgment. Nigerians must not be gullible to believe or accept such deep, fake, and dubious ploys, all in the name of partisan politics.

“While we continue to appreciate our security agencies’ efforts to secure Nigeria, we implore them to ensure that our principals are safe and secure in their persons, movement and properties as they go about their public and private endeavours.

“Obi-Datti media office, therefore, wishes to call on all patriots desirous of seeing a new Nigeria to desist from any action that may hinder the delivery of justice by their Lordships or other forms of nefarious activities that may heat up the national polity.”