Supreme Court denies comments credited to CJN over Makinde’s membership of PDP’s G-5 governors

The Supreme Court has denied a comment credited to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, purportedly expressing delight in a group of five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors popularly known as G-5 Governors.

Mr Ariwola was reported to have said he was happy that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, the state the CJN hails from, was part of the G-5.

The G-5 governors comprising Mr Makinde, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) are pushing for the replacement of PDP’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, with somebody from southern Nigeria following Atiku Abubakar’s emergence as the party’s presidential candidate for next year’s election.

Led by Mr Wike, who lost the bid for the PDP’s presidential ticket to Mr Abubakar, the G-5 which rechristened ‘Integrity Group’, maintains it smacks of injustice for both the party’s presidential ticket and the party’s national chairman to come from the North.

The Supreme Court’s rebuttal on Saturday came on the heels of a statement credited to Mr Ariwoola, where he was said to have endorsed Mr Makinde’s membership of the G-5 governors.

A section of the media reported that Mr Ariwoola, in his comment at a dinner organised by the Rivers State government in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Friday, said he was happy that Mr Makinde belongs to the dissident five governors.

Debunking the report on Saturday, the Director of Information and Press of the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, said the CJN only spoke briefly at the banquet organised as part of events lined up for the commissioning of two judiciary projects executed by the Rivers State government, and never made the comment creditted to him.

“We wish to state unequivocally clear that the CJN, Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON had never at any point said such during his brief remarks at the State Banquet organised as part of the events lined up for the commissioning of the two judiciary projects undertaken by the Rivers state government,” the statement said in part.

It added that “misrepresentations” were always rife during electioneering in Nigeria, adding, “some people may want to take advantage of every opportunity to score very cheap goals.”

“As we all know, this is the era of aggressive and even unconventional politicking, so, there’s nothing that will not be heard or seen at this crucial time, especially between now and February 2023, when the general elections will be conducted.

“We can’t really pinpoint where such barefaced falsehood is coming from; and certainly, we don’t also know at what point the CJN said he was happy that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State was a member of the now christened “Integrity Group” or “G-5 Governors,” the statement also read.

The court emphasised that Mr Ariwoola being a judicial officer would not make such “comments or innuendos.”

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“We wish to set the record straight by making it clear that the CJN and other senior Judicial Officers drawn from different parts of the country were in Port Harcourt on Thursday and Friday, being the 24th and 25th days of November, 2022 to commission the two buildings to accommodate the Federal Judicial Service Commission’s South-South Liaison Office and the Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili Judicial Institute, that were conceptualized and constructed by the Rivers State Government.

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“Even at the State Banquet organised as part of the events, the CJN made it clear in his brief remarks, that he (CJN) was not in Port Harcourt for the State Banquet but simply to commission the two projects as a mark of honour for the Judiciary and Hon. Justice Mary Peter-Odili, CFR, JSC, Rtd and later go back to Abuja thereafter.

“Similarly, he said he was very surprised to see the “G-5 Governors” (“Integrity Group Governors”), just as he equally expressed the same surprise when he saw them in Ibadan, Oyo State, during the reception organised in his honour by his state government in October, 2022.

“His surprise particularly stemmed from the fact that he saw his own State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde (who incidentally is a member of the “G-5 Governors”) at the Port Harcourt occasion.

“He equally stated jocularly that being that HE Engineer Makinde married from Rivers State and is equally very close to HE Nyesome Wike, he would be able to replicate the developmental strides of the latter in Oyo State for the good of the citizenry.

“This, of course, is a comment that, ordinarily, ought to elicit applause and not myopic misrepresentations, as governance is all about positive comparisons and healthy competitions.

“Anyone or group of individuals making these unconscionable assumptions and pervading the misinformation are by implication, creating the impression that it is now a crime for the CJN to have come from Oyo State, which coincidentally, has a member of the group, Engineer Seyi Makinde, as the Governor.

“Let it be noted that anything said, assumed, presumed, reported or placed in the public domain outside the above facts, is simply a mere figment of the imagination of such authors and don’t in anyway represent what the CJN said in Port Harcourt, as we are not ready to join issues with such purveyors of misinformation,” the statement read.