Nigeria: No Evidence Appeals Court President Said Nigeria's 2023 Presidential Election Tribunal Was Offered Bribes

28 June 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Allwell Okpi

IN SHORT: There is no proof that justice Monica Dongban-Mensem said that Bola Tinubu had "failed" and that the 2023 presidential election petition tribunal had been offered bribes they couldn't resist.

A report posted on Facebook attributed a controversial statement to justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, president of Nigeria's court of appeal.

The poorly written post reads: "Just In: I oversees the worst Presidential election petition since the history of Nigeria, the money offered to us, was what no judge can overlook, Tinubu failed woefully - Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem purportedly express regret."

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress won the February 2023 presidential election. But some opposition parties rejected the election results and challenged the outcome in court.

In September, the appeals court dismissed the opposition's case and upheld Tinubu's victory.

The Facebook post includes a link to a blog post with the same headline. Other Facebook posts with the same claim include links to a different blog post (Note: See more instances listed at the end of this report.)

But did Dongban-Mensem make the statement attributed to her in the posts? We checked.

No evidence to support the claim

Dongban-Mensem was not one of the five judges who served on the 2023 presidential election petitions tribunal.

Given her position, it would've made headlines if she had made such a statement against the Nigerian judiciary. But we have found no credible media reports of this.

Some of the Facebook posts link to a report published by the Igbo Times Magazine, a blog notorious for spreading fake news. Some of its articles have been debunked here, here and here.

There is no evidence that Dongban-Mensem made the statement attributed to her. Such a claim has implications for the reputation of the judge and the Nigerian judiciary.

In July 2023, Africa Check debunked a claim that one of the five tribunal judges had resigned over pressure on the court to rule against the Labour Party's presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

The claim can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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