Nigerian Supreme Court fire outbreak may be a demonstration of anger against the judiciary
Invitation By Daily Tab24. Updated: Sep 26, 2023.
Nigeria’s Supreme Court offices mysteriously caught fire, leaving the offices of two judges completely burnt down, according to Nigerian police. There have been no reports of loss of vital documents or documents relating to the recent filing of review of the judgment of the country’s presidential election tribunal. The offices that were completely burnt down have not issued any press statement, but the police confirmed no judge or office workers in the two offices were hurt.
Nigerian police could not confirm the report of electrical fault being the cause of the fire; instead, the police said they are investigating to finding out the cause of the fire. Nigerian Supreme Court complex is located in the capital territory of the country, with security personnel stationed in the complex. Claim of electrical fault spark causing fire outbreak is not new in Nigeria, but in other places, rarely had electrical faults caused fire outbreak.
Nigerian youths saw their dream of reclaiming victory through the court dashed a few weeks ago, when the country’s presidential tribunal ruled that Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party could not convince the tribunal with sufficient evidences or the evidences submitted lack merits and could not satisfy the tribunal to grant their plea against the ruling party, whose candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of the election by the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission.
There are unearthed fears that the fire outbreak could be a demonstration of anger against the judiciary of the country. The build up to the ruling was a tensed one that created a tactical pressure on the judiciary, with billboards written ‘all eyes on the judiciary’ mounted in Abuja, Lagos and other places.
On social media, the phrase was subtly used to threaten a mass action should the judiciary compromise the faith or hope of the common man.
Earlier after the election and the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission’s declaration of the ruling party’s candidate winner, amidst protest from PDP and other parties that wanted the election umpire to halt the collation and compilation of results on account of blatant irregularities, the country’s Supreme Court chief was accused of meeting with Tinubu to discuss ways the judiciary could help cement his victory.
Supporters of Peter Obi and Atiku cried foul and vowed to act should the alleged agreement between the Supreme Court chief and Tinubu come to fruition.
Nigerian firefighters responded quickly to avoid the entire complex being consumed, while the government has assured the people that the fire is not linked to any civil unrest or protestation. Investigation is underway, but that is not the first fire outbreak in the capital territory on government offices.
According to one of the country’s dailies, fire outbreak at government offices has been consist with the country’s capital. In May 2023, fire gutted some parts of the Nigerian Air Force Base. February 2022, Ministry of Finance building. May 2020, fire gutted Nigerian Postal Service building. Accountant general of the federation’s office was torched one month ago.
The country reported losing trillions of Naira in 2018 to fire incidents.
