How True? Confusion Over Alleged Resignation Of Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) Panelist

While the authenticity of this story is still still remains largely unconfirmed, there is palpable tension and confusion in the polity following trending online reports since yesternight, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, alleging that a member of the Presidential Election Petition Court, Justice Boloukuoromo Moses Ugo, has resigned.

In the report the reports titled, “Justice Ugo Resigns, Citing Demands to ‘Kneecap’ Democracy, Says ‘Siding with Tinubu’ Would Mean ‘The Death of Nigeria’s Democracy”, “In a shocking and unprecedented move, Nigerian Justice Boloukuoromo M. Ugo has resigned from the bench, citing demands from the executive branch that he believes would destroy the country’s democracy.  In a statement, Justice Ugo said that siding with the government on this matter would be the ‘death of Nigeria’s democracy”, and that he could not in good conscience remain silent. His resignation has sent shockwaves through the country, and raised serious questions about the state of Nigeria’s democratic institutions. According to Justice Ugo’s statement, he was asked to ‘cripple the independence of the judiciary’ by ruling in favor of a certain political candidate, whom he did not name but is widely believed to be Bola Tinubu. In addition to this, he was asked to suppress evidence and dismiss cases that could have an impact on the election. Justice Ugo’s resignation has cause.”

The Cyber space has been on fire since the report started trending, with anxious Nigerians asking how true it is while others accepted it as truth and started reposting with comments.

However, Secretary of the five-member PEPC panel, Mrs Josephine J. Ekperobe, has dismissed the viral post as fake news.

A report late Thursday morning by the Abuja-based THE WHISTLER news portal quoted her as saying in reply to an inquiry: “All fake pls .Thank you.”

A native of Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Justice Ugo was born in 1965. He began his education at the State school, Igbedi in Bayelsa state from 1972 to 1978. He proceeded to the Government Secondary School, Asoama, Sabagreia in Bayelsa state from 1977 to 1982.

Justice Ugo attended the University of Calabar where he studied law from 1985 to 1989. He obtained his degree in law from the Nigeria Law School, Lagos in 1990.

Justice Ugo was appointed as a justice of the high court of Bayelsa State in March 2006. He became an appellate court justice in March 2014. He is ranked 44th on the seniority list of the Court of Appeal.