Alleged Meeting with Tinubu: “Yes, CJN Ariwoola Travelled to London”-Supreme Court affirms

Amid speculation that Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, and President-elect Bola Tinubu met in London recently, the Supreme Court has given a crucial angle to the story.

The court’s through its spokesperson, Dr. Festus Akande, remarked that there was no truth in the report that Ariwoola and Tinubu met in London, ThisDay reports.

Akande who spoke with ThisDay on Friday, March 24, disclosed that Ariwoola has been in Nigeria, and presided over meetings of the National Judicial Council (NJC) held on 16 and 17 March.

However, the apex court’s spokesman disclosed that the CJN alongside NJC’s secretary, Gambo Saleh, travelled to London on 18 March for medical care, a trip, of which, according to Akande, President Muhammadu Buhari is aware.

He said: “On 23 March, the CJN returned from his medical trip to London and later reported in the office (in Abuja), where he worked till 8p.m.”

Akande added that the only time the CJN made a trip earlier in 2023 was on Wednesday, January 25, when he travelled for Lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia and returned on Sunday, January 29.

But the spokesman added that there is no connection between Ariwoola’s trip and that of Tinubu.

Amid several news reports about a meeting between Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kayode Ariwoola, in the United Kingdom, Ahmed Raji (SAN) has dismissed such claims.

Fresh details emerge Raji said the reports were false and were an attempt to mar the image of the Supreme Court of Justice.

Raji revealed on Thursday, March 23, that Justice Ariwoola was indeed in the United Kingdom but was there only on medical leave but returned to Nigeria in the early hours of Thursday.