Nigerians knock Peter Obi for denying “reckless” statement on Supreme Court ruling

Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, on Wednesday, faced backlash on social media after denying he described the Supreme Court ruling on Rivers State as “reckless”.

Obi issued a rebuttal after multiple media outlets reported that he made the remark while reacting to the Supreme court ruling that affirmed the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers House of Assembly members as valid members of the house.

Obi was also reported to have slammed the court’s ruling that ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant-General of the Federation not to release funds to the state government until its House of Assembly is constituted in line with the dictates of the 1999 Constitution.

However, Obi denied making the “reckless” comment, despite evidence showing he stated: “The reckless Judiciary pronouncement on Rivers State that is capable of threatening democracy plus the embarrassing scandal from the National Assembly all combine to give a gloomy picture of our democratic journey.”

In a statement issued today, Obi noted that his initial remark was about the attitude of political elites amidst deepening poverty, not a direct comment on the Supreme Court ruling.

He acknowledged disagreeing with the ruling but maintained he never described it as “reckless”.

The statement authored by Obi reads: “My attention has been drawn to a news report saying that I described the Supreme Court ruling on Rivers State as reckless.

“The statement I made from which the report was drawn is on the general terms of the attitude of the political elites in the face of deepening poverty in the land.

“There’s nowhere I made direct remarks on the Supreme Court ruling as reckless.

“Even if a ruling of the apex court is not agreeable to me, I cannot describe it as reckless. I find it very necessary to give this clarification.”

Meanwhile, despite Obi’s rebuttal, many Nigerians remain unconvinced, taking to social media to criticize the former Anambra Governor.

Some shared screenshots of Obi’s original statement, accusing him of dishonesty and attempting to distance himself from his words.

“This is you calling the judgement of the Supreme Court on Rivers reckless. I don’t know what you are trying to defend here when evidence abound. You gave your mob something to (feed) on and you want to distance yourself from it. It won’t work,” Justice Omodigbe wrote on Twitter.

Another commentator wrote: “Stop lying, you truly called the court judgments “Reckless”!”