The Supreme Court has assured Nigerians that the fire outbreak that occurred at the apex court building yesterday morning did not affect any material connected with the presidential election petition.
The Public Relations Officer of the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, gave the assurance during an interview during a television programme shortly after the fire incident. According to him, the fire outbreak occurred in one chamber of the court and affected the library, computer gadgets and other equipment.
Akande said: “Actually there was a fire incident in the Supreme Court this morning, and it affected just one chamber. However, contrary to the information being peddled on social media, the Supreme Court was not and is not under invasion from hoodlums or any miscreants.
He further explained that “it was just as a result of maybe an electrical malfunction or so. That was the result of the preliminary investigation we have carried out so far”.
“Further investigations are still ongoing now. So, we can’t say categorically what caused it but from what we have found out this morning, it was an electrical fault. And good enough, the Supreme Court is well equipped with fire appliances and a staff (member) was able to come to it immediately.
“The staff were already in offices, and it didn’t take them up to an hour to put out the fire”, Akande stated.
Asked if the offices of judges were affected, the Supreme Court spokesperson said, “Since it wasn’t a very serious issue, there was no point evacuating anybody”.
