No Live Broadcast Of Tribunal Proceedings, Court Tells Atiku, Obi

The presidential election petitions court yesterday quasht the bid by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) to get live coverage of court proceedings.

The two parties and their presidential candidates are challenging the outcome of the February 25, 2023 presidential elections.

Dismissing the application for live coverage, the court headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani said the application by the parties lacked merit.

The presidential candidate of PDP, Atiku Abubakar, had filed an application on May 8 for an order to allow the live coverage of the daily court proceedings in the case they brought against the victory of president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in election.

The LP and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, followed suit with a similar application asking that proceedings of the tribunal be televised.

But Tinubu opposed the application for a live broadcast of the proceedings of the election petition, describing it as an abuse of court process.

During the proceedings in Abuja on Monday, Justice Tsammani said the application by the PDP and Labour Party lacked merit.

In a unanimous decision, the panel held that the order sought by the petitioner was outside the scope of the petition, adding that televising of proceedings is not provided for in any law.

The panel stated that the court is created by the constitution and operates under the law by the Court of Appeal to hear and determine the petitions before it and cannot act as a vanguard.

According to the Justices, the undue pressure of allowing cameras into the courtroom should be avoided as the impact it will have on witnesses cannot be predicted.

“The court is created to find out the truth and should be allowed to do so”, said the panel which held that the request was novel and not supported with any law in the country for now.

The panel further held that the request was not rooted from the petition Atiku filed before the court.

Justice Tsammani added that the request was capable of turning the court to a stadium or marketplace and that must not be allowed for now.

The panel held that granting the request for a live broadcast of proceedings of the petition would not add any value to the petition.

Justice Tsammani finally ruled that the petition was without merit and subsequently dismissed it.