The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola returned to Nigeria yesterday morning after a medical trip to London, CITY LAWYER can authoritatively report.

Speaking on the controversy trailing an alleged meeting between Justice Ariwoola and President-elect, Senator Bola Tinubu, a senior lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN) said the top jurist was in London solely for medical reasons.

CITY LAWYER recalls that Raji had about last November also made a spirited defence of Justice Ariwoola when the apex court jurist got into hot water for his remarks at a programme in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

While the top jurist was lampooned by some critics for allegedly expressing happiness over membership of the “Integrity Group” by his Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, Raji dismissed any insinuation of bias by Ariwoola, saying that the Chief Justice of Nigeria only joked about the closeness that existed between the Wike and Makinde.

According to Raji, who is also the President of Oke-Ogun Development Consultative Forum (ODCF), the umbrella body of indigenes of Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, “I was at the said occasion at Port Harcourt and there was never a time the Chief Justice of the Federation said anything about being in support of the group of PDP five governors, he only made jokes about how the closeness between the Oyo State governor and governor Wike is strong which he attributed to the fact that governor Wike is the in-law of Seyi Makinde.

“For anybody to think the Chief Justice of the Federation will come down to such level as discussing party issues is ridiculous, I enjoin media organizations to please scrutinize information their reporters bring to them to avoid creating crisis and smear the images of people.”

According to a Nigerian Tribune report, Raji stated that the alleged meeting between Tinubu and Ariwoola is false and aimed at tarnishing the image of the apex court.

He stated that Justice Ariwoola travelled to London on Saturday for his routine medical check-up and returned to Nigeria on Thursday morning.

Media reports on Wednesday indicated that Tinubu left Nigeria for France and would depart France to London and Saudi Arabia for the lesser hajj.

Also, a Press Statement issued by the Director, Media & Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, refuted the report of any clandestine meeting between the duo.

In his statement, Raji said the report was another malicious attempt by some individuals to tarnish the image of the Supreme Court and the CJN after they had made attempts at attaching his name to some political parties to preempt the outcomes of the legal tussles before the apex court.

“It is in the news since Tuesday evening that Tinubu was traveling to Europe for medical reasons as well as for lesser hajj. Further reports indicated that he is in France to meet with his medical doctor. Why would somebody now link that to the CJN that has left Nigeria for UK since Saturday to observe his own medical session and just came back today (Thursday) as meeting?

“Our politicians need to allow due process to take control. Election matters are in the law courts, but that does not mean that the law lords will not live their normal lives as human beings. Tinubu is in France and the CJN was in London. Where is the contact?” he asked.

To join our Telegram platform, please click here 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag. To ADVERTISE in CITY LAWYER, please email citylawyermag@gmail.com or call 08138380083.

All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.