By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has said election petition cases are not affected by a fire incident that gutted the building in Abuja in the early hours of Monday, the apex court Director of Press and Information Dr Festus Akande has announced.
The fire incident said to have been caused by an electrical fault only affected a part of its building, the court stated.
Firefighters had stormed the scene and brought the fire under control.
Only one chamber of the Supreme Court was affected by the fire. It was subsequently doused, Akande told reporters in Abuja.
“What was destroyed in that chamber were books, stationery, and other computer gadgets. The books are replaceable because we have an e-library.
“We have the soft copy of the books and also the hard copy which can be procured and supplied to the chamber. So it has nothing to do with the Presidential Election Petition, as people are saying outside. Such issues as presidential election matters are not discussed in the chamber, inside the court,” he stated.
Concerns have been raised over the safety of evidences before the apex court currently presiding over a presidential election litigation in which President Bola Tinubu is a respondent.
Arising from the February 25 election in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu winner, candidates of the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar respectively had challenged the election, calling for the annulment of the poll.
Though the case has since been dismissed against the petitioners by the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja for lacking in merit, both candidates have filed an 85 grounds of appeal before the Supreme Court, seeking the annulment of the poll.
