Reports of a fire gutting a section of the Supreme Court of Nigeria building are spreading like wildfire, raising election dispute concerns.
Development Diaries reports that no casualties have been reported, with the court’s Public Relations Officer, Festus Akande, saying that the cause of the fire was due to an electrical fault, as reported by Channels TV.
While it is understood that the cleaners who arrived early were able to put out the fire using fire extinguishers, the fire affected the offices of three justices of the court.
The incident is occurring at a time when the 2023 presidential election dispute is before the apex court.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, recently filed appeals at the Supreme Court to overturn the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s election earlier this month.
With this development, if the authorities involved fail to carry out a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire, it is likely to give room for propaganda information enveloping the media space.
Development Diaries calls on the Supreme Court management to carry out an urgent, thorough, and transparent investigation into the cause of the fire and make findings public as soon as possible.
