JUST IN: Tinubu speaks on ‘London meeting’ with CJN Ariwoola

Bola Tinubu, the president-elect, has denied having any kind of covert meeting with Olukayode Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), in London, United Kingdom (UK), in an effort to win over the court as his opponents fight to overturn his election.

According to report Tinubu claimed that he was currently in France and could not have been present at the meeting in London in a statement released on Thursday evening and signed by Bayo Onanuga, Director of Media and Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC).

Part of the statement states, “Our attention has been directed to the blatantly false, spiteful, and misleading tale about the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, posing as Bola Tinubu to visit him in London.

The narrative was a complete fabrication from the delusional minds of hatchet men determined to sow public mistrust and doubt about the veracity of our most recent election, which Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu won.

“We categorically deny that the respected Chief Justice of our nation and the incoming President of Nigeria ever met in secret anywhere. It’s completely false news that lacks any basis in reality or validity.

“It claimed the Chief Justice departed Nigeria for London on March 11 in a wheel chair to board an aircraft, demonstrating that the report was simply a lurid lie intended to attract attention to the discredited purveyor.

On March 21, 10 clear days later, the president-elect left Nigeria. With such vastly different arrival dates, what kind of appointment or secret encounter could the two men have planned in London, unless it was in the purported news outlets’ wildest dreams?

“We can confirm that the President-elect did not visit London after leaving Nigeria on Tuesday. He is currently in France for a well-earned break following a rigorous campaign that started in January 2022. After that, he will travel to London before making his way to Mecca to perform the shorter Hajj.

Nigerians “can expect more false and scandalous news from a portion of the Nigerian media, on the payroll of the opposition, as we progress towards inauguration on May 29, 2023.”