False claims circulated before Nigeria election ruling

The election ruling in Nigeria - which is still be read out - has come amid a flood of disinformation spread by social media influencers and micro blogs targeting the tribunal judges.

They have been considering challenges to the victory of Bola Tinubu in February's presidential election.

In July, a news website, Igbo Times, published a story claiming that one of the judges in the five-person election tribunal panel, Justice Boloukuoromo M Ugo had resigned due to “demands to kneecap democracy”. It also claimed that he admitted to being asked by the ruling party to rule in favour of its candidate.

Justice Ugo has not resigned, and there is no evidence on the claims made by Igbo Times.

In September, several social media influencers supporting the Labour Party began sharing claims that the the tribunal had fixed 16 September as the day for the judgement to be announced. They argued this was to prevent the opposition from reacting against any judgement as it was the last day of the legal period that the tribunal could sit.

This false claim became the dominant narrative before the tribunal announced 6 September as the day for its ruling.

Some have also shared threatening messages and alleged photos of the family members of some of the judges accompanied by the hashtag #AllEyesOntheJudiciary, in what appears to be an attempt at intimidation ahead of the ruling,