A section of the Nigerian Supreme Court was early this morning gutted by fire though no casualty was recorded, the court has said.
Mr Festus Akande, the Court’s Public Relations Officer, said the cause of the fire was electrical from one of the Chambers of the Justices of the court and was put out with the use of fire extinguishers.
Akande added that the stories making the rounds on social media that there are casualties are “fake news”.
A source who chose to remain anonymous said the fire started around 6 a.m.
It was gathered that the cleaners on duty and some of the workers who resumed for work early detected the fire and raised the alarm.
The workers were said to have used the fire extinguishers in the building to combat the fire.
Three offices, including that of Justice Mohammed Saulawa, were touched by the fire.
The apex court is billed to listen to appeals by the candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi and his counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
However, during an interview on Arise TV on Monday, Akande stated that the fire outbreak has no connection with the petitions in court.
He noted that the fire outbreak affected a chamber with a computer, equipment and functional library due to an electrical fault.
He said, “As a matter of fact, there’s no single connection, and it won’t affect anything in the court.
“This incident occurred in a chamber equipped with a computer and other equipment, as well as a functional library used by any justice occupying such chamber.
“The only thing that was affected were the books and computer equipment in the chamber. Even the books are replaceable.
“Also, it has nothing to do with it because it was from an electrical fault, which could happen anywhere, and there are things that happen daily.”
Eighteen-Eleven Media