CLAIM: Obasanjo flies in a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, to reclaim Peter Obi’s mandate.
There are several social media reports claiming that former president, Olusegun Obasanjo has flown in a Russian-based lawyer to reclaim the mandate of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi during the presidential election tribunal.
One of the tweets read, “Obasanjo flew in World-Class Russian lawyer “Natalia Veselnitskaya” to defend Peter Obi ahead of Monday’s Presidential court case”.
As of the time of this report, the tweet has generated more than 53 thousand views, 162 comments, 711 likes and 208 retweets.
VERDICT: FALSE
The claim that former president Olusegun Obasanjo invited Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, to reclaim Peter Obi’s victory during the presidential electoral tribunal is false.
With the pre-hearing session scheduled to begin on Monday, 8th of May, 2023, the list of 20 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) hired by Mr Peter Obi did not include Russian lawyer “Natalia Veselnitskaya”.
Similarly, a clarification by the media aide to Olusegun Obasanjo, Kehinde Akinyemi, noted that the statement is false.
“It is a rumour that is unconfirmed, and it has got nothing to do with Obasanjo. Also, it is not from a credible medium,” Kehinde stated.
