On Monday morning, a section of the Supreme Court was gutted by fire. This shocking incident unfolded shortly after the court staff resumed their duties at about 8 a.m.
The fire originated from the Justices’ Chambers, to be precise, from chamber 5, located on the fourth floor behind the main courtroom of the Supreme Court. This unanticipated disaster sent everyone scrambling to control the blaze and salvage invaluable legal documents.
Dr. Festus Akande, the Director of Press and Information of the Supreme Court, confirmed the fire incident. However, he was quick to clarify that the situation was not as dire as some social media platforms had portrayed it. He remarked, “Yes, there was a fire that perhaps resulted from an electrical fault in the section of a justice’s chambers of a justice of the court. But the fire is not as serious as they make it appear on social media. From what is being said on social media, it is as if someone went there and set the whole Supreme Court on fire; it is not so.”
As the nation waited with bated breath, the apex court was preparing to resume its sitting to hear the appeals of the cases filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) concerning the last Presidential elections and the victory of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Both opposition parties had previously lost their cases at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal and subsequently filed appeals at the apex court in a bid to unseat President Tinubu. The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, and the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Alhaji Abubakar Atiku had filed appeals challenging the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which had affirmed the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
The lower court’s judgment had held that the petitioners failed to prove the allegations contained in their petitions against Tinubu’s election.
In the midst of this turmoil, the Supreme Court spokesman emphasized that the fire incident had nothing to do with the petitions filed by Obi, Atiku, and their parties against Tinubu’s election.
While the situation may not have been as catastrophic as feared, it underscores the importance of fire safety measures and disaster preparedness in every institution, even the hallowed halls of justice.
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