COVID-19: S’Court denies CJN’s positive status report

TRACKING____The Supreme Court yesterday said that there is no medical report so far made available by anybody indicating that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad has tested positive for Coronavirus. Director of Information and Press of apex court, Dr. Festus Akande, stated this in a release issued in Abuja yesterday.

Akande was reacting to reports that the CJN has tested positive to coronavirus (COVID-19) and another reports with the caption “Anxiety over CJN’s health”. The court stated that those peddling the rumour should go a step further to confirm from their sources and equally obtain the copy of whatever laboratory test result they are relying on.

“As of this moment of issuing this statement, no one has so far shown me or any other person in the Supreme Court a copy of the test result they are referring to in the report. “Our attention has been drawn to the story currently in circulation. “It’s necessary to state that there’s no iota of truth in the claim being peddled by the publication, as there hasn’t been any indication made public or otherwise that has shown any anxiety over the CJN’s health.

“This is obviously a product of the imagination of the author of the concocted story which has literally failed the test of sound, investigative journalism as no form of enquiries were made by the reporter before hitting the public domain with this baggage of falsehoods to mislead the public by crying wolf where none is in sight,” Akande said.

He further stated that Justice Muhammad being unavoidably absent at a function is not enough to plunge into this premeditated conclusion that there’s now ‘anxiety over his health.’ According to him, “The other aspect of this monumental falsehood is the erroneous claim that the ‘CJN has not been seen in public for weeks.’ ”

We are still at a loss as to where the reporter got that malicious information from, as the CJN has been very active and even presided over the swearingin of the newly appointed Justices of the Supreme Court a few weeks back.

“It should be noted that no business survives on falsehood. You cannot whip up sentiments through sensational reports to attract traffic to your media organisation. Certainly such practice leads to nowhere. We must eschew acts capable of eroding our good values at all times.”

Some online media had reported that the CJN has tested positive for COVID- 19.

According to reports, the CJN is presently in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, receiving treatment. The reports quoted a member of the Supreme Court, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, to have disclosed same at the unveiling of the national headquarters of the Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria (MULAN) in Abuja.