The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemicondemned the attacks on the judges of the Abuja Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), represented the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the court where Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi were challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the February presidential election.

The AGF spoke on Monday at a ceremony marking the start of the 2023/2024 legal year of the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

One of Atiku’s media aides, Phrank Shaibu, had sparked a controversy that trended on Nigerian social media, where it was suggested that the decision of the five-member presidential electoral tribunal affirming Tinubu’s election was drafted by the team legal of the president.

An imprint, ‘President Tinubu’s Legal Team’, appeared on a copy of the decision a couple of days after the court handed down its judgment on September 6.

The chief secretary of the Court of Appeal, Umar Bangari, where the presidential election tribunal is domiciled, has since denied the allegation.

But in a veiled reference to Shuaibu’s criticism of the Haruna Tsammani-led presidential election tribunal, Fagbemi said litigants and lawyers have a duty to “insulate the judiciary” from “undue media defamation and partisan criticism.”

It noted that it was unacceptable to engage in “extreme and extravagant criticism, including direct threats… of judges in the performance of their judicial duties.”

However, recognizing people’s right to freedom of expression, the AGF said that “it is abhorrent that any legal professional or judicial official is threatened… or, worse yet, attacked for doing their job.”