No, court hasn’t declared Nigeria’s presidential election ‘null and void’
This article is more than 4 years old
News site Exclusive 103 claims Nigeria’s supreme court has given President Muhammadu Buhari, the winner of the recent presidential election, five days to vacate Aso Rock - the presidential villa.
The story was published on 3 March 2019 and soon shared by three Facebook pages: Atiku fan page, Imo City News and News Nigeria.
Exclusive 103 says in the report that the supreme court upheld a petition by Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, “who said the re-election of President Buhari on February 23 was fraudulent”.
It continued: “The presidential election was not conducted in accordance with the constitution, according to a chief justice who rendered the declared results of the presidential elections invalid, null and void.”
The post has so far gained 442 shares, 306 reactions and 110 comments on Facebook.
“Please is this true? I believe in your information,” said one user. Another asked: “Is this true, if yes Nigeria for the first time has shown our law is working.”
But others called the post fake news.
The first line of the article gives the impression it is by CNN, the US-based news channel.
Atiku has headed to court over the result of the presidential election, and been granted permission by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to inspect the electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the conduct of the February polls.
He was prohibited from making photocopies or scanning the documents.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, a press secretary at INEC, told Africa Check the agency hadn’t received any letter from the supreme court regarding the case.
“A court cannot pass a judgement on a matter without hearing from both parties. The news is definitely fake.”
Africa Check has reached out to CNN, but we’re yet to get a response.
Ade Adesomoju, a senior correspondent for Punch newspaper, told Africa Check that the report is false.
“I haven’t heard any such news from the supreme court. The news is fake.”
The story was published on 3 March 2019 and soon shared by three Facebook pages: Atiku fan page, Imo City News and News Nigeria.
Exclusive 103 says in the report that the supreme court upheld a petition by Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, “who said the re-election of President Buhari on February 23 was fraudulent”.
It continued: “The presidential election was not conducted in accordance with the constitution, according to a chief justice who rendered the declared results of the presidential elections invalid, null and void.”
Report attributed to CNN
The post has so far gained 442 shares, 306 reactions and 110 comments on Facebook.
“Please is this true? I believe in your information,” said one user. Another asked: “Is this true, if yes Nigeria for the first time has shown our law is working.”
But others called the post fake news.
The first line of the article gives the impression it is by CNN, the US-based news channel.
Atiku gets permission to inspect election documents
Atiku has headed to court over the result of the presidential election, and been granted permission by the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to inspect the electoral materials used by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the conduct of the February polls.
He was prohibited from making photocopies or scanning the documents.
Electoral commission debunks report
Rotimi Oyekanmi, a press secretary at INEC, told Africa Check the agency hadn’t received any letter from the supreme court regarding the case.
“A court cannot pass a judgement on a matter without hearing from both parties. The news is definitely fake.”
Africa Check has reached out to CNN, but we’re yet to get a response.
Ade Adesomoju, a senior correspondent for Punch newspaper, told Africa Check that the report is false.
“I haven’t heard any such news from the supreme court. The news is fake.”
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