A claim that Mike Ozekhome, a Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist, said that ex-convicts are approaching him to appeal their cases in court has circulated online.
The claim, posted on Twitter by Chy Gold with the username: @ifygold21 on March 27, 2023 and archived here read:
”So many ex-convicts are approaching me to appeal their cases in court if Bola Tinubu wins in Tribunal by using Bola Tinubu’s drug trafficking case as a reference.”- Mike Ozekhome.
It has since garnered over 3,500 likes, more than 1,800 retweets and over 109,000 views as of Sunday, April 9, 2023.
A Facebook page named South East Nigeria also posted the claim with a caption thus:
”So many ex-convicts are approaching me to appeal their cases in court if Bola Tinubu wins in Tribunal by using Bola Tinubu’s drug trafficking case as a reference- Mike Ozekhome.”
The post has since generated over 300 reactions and was shared 75 times.
The claim was also tweeted by several Twitter users as seen here and here.
Mike Ozekhome, a constitutional lawyer, had earlier faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for declaring Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s President-elect despite having less than 25 per cent in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Arise TV reported.
CLAIM
Ex-convicts approaching Mike Ozekhome to appeal their cases in court.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
When The FactCheckHub contacted Mike Ozekhome via telephone, he debunked the claim.
“I never made such a statement. This vile and fake story making the rounds and being widely circulated on the social media is fake, unfounded, baseless, and is a concocted lie from the pit of hell. I DENY IT. I DENOUNCE IT. I REJECT IT. I CONDEMN IT. It should be maximally ignored. Anyone who knows me and follows my trajectory will know that I never discuss personalities, but issues. They also know that I never use vile and disgusting expletives such as this in my ceaseless national conversation,” Ozekhome told The FactCheckHub.
Also, a Google search online does not show that the claim has been published by any credible media platform in Nigeria.
THE VERDICT
The claim that ex-convicts are approaching Mike Ozekhome to appeal their cases in court is FALSE; the lawyer debunked it.
