Presidential Election Tribunal: Jonathan Warned Tinubu Against Influencing Judges? Fact Emerges

It has been determined that the assertion that former president Goodluck Jonathan forbade President Bola Tinubu from intervening with the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) is false and misleading. Jonathan issued a warning to President Tinubu not to use his position to sway the tribunal’s decision in a 4-minute, 45-second video that Tessy Update, a Facebook blogger, shared.

Tessy Update posted:
“BREAKING!! Former president Goodluck Jonathan don scatter everywhere as he w@rns Tinubu against using his position as President to influence election tribunal judges says the young are watching.”

Dubawa claims that the footage was altered because Jonathan never addressed Tinubu by name. Jonathan asked “fellow politicians and security service professionals” instead to refrain from using their positions to limit the independence of the judiciary. The fact-checking organization found that the blogger superimposed an image of Jonathan from an earlier speech over a clip from BM Motions, a cinematography company’s TikTok account.
Additionally, Tessy Update used a male voiceover to depict the story she was advancing before presenting the supposed speech. It was also discovered that the blogger failed to cite the precise location or time of Jonathan’s statement, which was published in the Sun newspaper under the headline “Don’t use political powers to strangle judiciary, society.” Further investigation revealed that Jonathan made the remark while doing a book presentation in Yenagoa in honor of Kate Abiri, the former chief judge of Bayelsa State, who retired on January 13, 2023. Kate is now deceased.

Prior to the general election, the former president warned politicians of judicial influence.