By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The Supreme Court has again warned against peddling falsehood and mischievous reports against Justices on its bench and the judiciary as an institution.
The apex Court on Saturday insisted that it will no longer tolerate deliberate falsehood being propagated to lower integrity of individual Justices and the judiciary.
Apparently reacting to a narrative in the social media that one of its Justices travelled to Benin City on account of a political case recently filed before the Court, it urged commentators on judicial matters to always exercise responsibility, discretion and restraint
in their comments.
This was disclosed in a statement on Saturday signed by Dr. Festus Akande, the Director of Information and Public Relations of the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the falsehood social media news against the Justice.
For the avoidance of doubt, the apex court said the Honourable Justice in question travelled to Benin City on Thursday, 12th June, 2025 to attend the funeral rites of the late mother of Mr. Hannibal Uwaifo, a senior member of the Bar and immediate past President of the African Bar Association.
It added that Prior to the journey, the said Justice formally sought and obtained permission from the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria to embark on the trip.
The statement stressed that the Honourable Justice neither attended any political meeting nor solicited for inclusion on any panel as falsely alleged.
It posited that the image being circulated purportedly as evidence merely showed the Justice returning alone to his hotel, hardly a basis for the sensational claims being peddled.
The Supreme Court declared that this sort of baseless speculation and malicious conjecture, especially when publicly propagated by persons who ought to know better is not only unhelpful but also deeply harmful to the integrity of the Judiciary.
It strongly urged members of the public, especially commentators on judicial matters to exercise responsibility and discretion.
