A broadcast message making the rounds on social media, particularly on WhatsApp, claims that Haruna Simon Tsamani, a justice of the Appeal court and the chairman of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, asked the church to pray for him.
The viral message, ascribed to one David Onibiyo, further claims that Tsamani said he was under pressure to subvert justice.
Claim: Tsamani said he was under pressure to subvert justice
Verification
The CDD Election War Room checked to verify the authenticity of the statement attributed to Tsamani. Although, no credible media outlet reported the story, we found a news article published by Daybreak , which stated that Tsamani called for prayers.
According to the report, Tsamani confided in his family members who told the church members allegedly spreading the news.
“The chairman reportedly made the assertion through family members after undue pressure but leaked to the public domain through church members,” part of the report read.
We further searched for David Onibiyo who was mentioned in the viral message but could not unravel his identity.
Verdict: No evidence
The CDD Election War Room can confirm that there is no credible report stating that Tsamani said he was under pressure to subvert justice. The news blog that published the report only quoted unknown source, said to be members of Tsamani’s family members’ church. Similarly, there is no statement from the highly-revered judge or his office in relation to the WhatsApp story.
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