Fire Guts Section of the Supreme Court, Six Days After Peter Obi, Atiku Filed Appeal
A section of the Supreme Court of Nigeria was engulfed in flames in the early hours of September 25, 2023. Viral videos on X (formerly Twitter) showed a part of the apex court, allegedly the area where judges’ chambers are located, ablaze.
While details about the incident are still sketchy as of the time of filing this report, the fire incident occurred just six days after Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar filed a high-stakes appeal before the nation’s highest court.
Recall that Neusroom reported that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, filed a 51-ground appeal with the Supreme Court on September 19, 2023. Similarly, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples’ Democratic Party filed his appeal at the apex court on the same date.
Efforts to reach Dr. Festus Akande, the spokesperson of the court, were unsuccessful as he could not be reached at the time of inquiry.
This incident is not the first time a Nigerian court has witnessed a fire incident. In 2015, a section of the Federal High Court in Maitama, Abuja, was burnt, resulting in the destruction of the Probate Section, which handles letters of administration and wills.
