The incoming president and his running mate think that it would be just for the court to reject the petitioners’ alleged application.
Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, requested that the proceedings of the election petition be broadcast live. The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, is opposing this request.
On Wednesday, Tinubu and Kashim Shettima responded to the application by claiming that it was an abuse of the legal system through a team of attorneys led by Wole Olanipekun.
They argued that the petitioners’ request for relief was not one the court could grant, and they requested that the presidential election petition court dismiss the application.
They referred to the motion as frivolous and asserted that the court did not serve as a podium, soapbox, stadium, theater, or arena for public entertainment.
In the counter affidavit, they claimed that the application was related to the creation of court policy, which falls outside the purview of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) in its current configuration.
They claimed that Atiku and his party neglected to inform the court that practice directives had been issued by the relevant courts for the procedure.
They believed that the application also touched on the constitutionally granted authority and jurisdiction that the President of the Court of Appeal has, which the court as it is constituted is unable to consider.
They claimed that the court should dismiss the aforementioned application submitted by the petitioners in the interests of fairness.
According to them, the application was at best “academic, very otiose, very unnecessary, very time-wasting, most unusual, and most unexpected, particularly from a group of petitioners who should be praying for the expedited trial of their petition.”
