Former Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) regarding social media posts he deems defamatory.
DAILY POST recalls that @Jackson Ude, a Twitter user, claimed that Fashola and All Progressives Congress (APC) lawyers were crafting a favorable ruling for the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
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Ude asserted that Fashola’s written judgment would be given to the tribunal judges.
In a petition written by his attorney Olanrewaju Akinsola and addressed to the IGP, Fashola stated that the allegation was spread via Twitter by Ude, Yoruba Sheikh, and Reportera.
The former minister stated that the allegation violates the basic principles of public enlightenment, as it amounts to character assassination.
The petition states, “It is the position of our client that the publications by Jackson Ude, @ReporteraNew, and @yorubasheik are false in their totality and have excessively violated the decent fundamentals of public enlightenment that press freedom is constitutionally based on.
“The three publications constitute a calculated character assassination aimed at causing harm to our client’s legal career.”
“The accusations are intended to cause our client inconvenience, criminal intimidation, enmity, anger, hatred, and needless anxiety, contrary to the provisions of Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015.”
Section 17 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the Nigerian judiciary. We hereby request that your office investigate the publications with the utmost urgency and severity.
