PDP, LP’s Request For Live Coverage Is Rejected by the Tribunal

Atiku Abubakar, a PDP presidential candidate, had submitted a request on May 8 for a ruling permitting live coverage of daily court hearings.

The request for live coverage of court proceedings was denied by Justice Haruna Tsammani, the President of the Presidential Election Petition Court.

Justice Tsammani stated at the Monday hearing in Abuja that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) appeal lacked merit.

The panel decided unanimously that the order the petitioner requested was not covered by the petition and added that no statute allows for the televising of hearings.

According to the panel, the court was established under the constitution and is governed by the Court of Appeal. It was established to hear and decide the petitions submitted to it and is not permitted to take the lead.

The judges contend that permitting cameras in the courtroom should be avoided because it is impossible to foresee what effect they will have on the witnesses.

The panel held that the request was innovative and not currently supported by any foreign legislation because the court was established to discover the truth and should be permitted to do so.

The tribunal further declared that the request had no connection to the court case Atiku had submitted.

Justice Tsammani further stated that the motion should not be granted at this time because it could transform the court into a stadium or market.

The panel determined that allowing the request for a live broadcast of the petition’s proceedings would not improve the petition in any way.

After concluding that the petition lacked merit, Justice Tsammani rejected it.

Obi and Atiku’s Applications

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) nominee for president, submitted a request on May 8 for a ruling allowing live coverage of the daily court hearings in the case they initiated against Bola Tinubu after the election on February 25.

Following suit, the Labour Party (LP) and Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, submitted a similar plea requesting that the tribunal’s hearings be broadcast on television.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Bola Tinubu’s legal team rejected the effort to combine the three separate lawsuits, though.

They maintained that combining all the petitions would make it more difficult for them to appropriately address all the petitioners’ concerns.

They argued that the petitioners not only brought forward several issues but also requested various reliefs.