The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his party requested that the proceedings of their petition challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election be broadcast live. The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja declined their request.
The Court ruled that the request may transform the Court into a stadium or market square and that it should not be granted at this time.
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The court further determined that the problem of televising processes required judicial policy and that authorising televising of proceedings in the petition filed by the President of the Court of Appeal did not fall under the practise directions for the conduct of the proceedings.
The court further found that providing permission for the televising of election petition proceedings was not covered by the practise directions for the conduct of the proceedings in the petition by the President of the Court of Appeal.
The request was not based on the petition Atiku submitted to the court, according to Justice Haruna Tsammani, who delivered the unanimous ruling of the five-member panel of justices.
A live broadcast of the petition’s proceedings, according to Justice Tsammani, would not improve the petition in any way, and the application was denied for being without substance.
Atiku requested an order enabling live broadcast of the daily proceedings relating his petition from the court considering his appeal against the results of the presidential elections held on February 25 due to its immense significance.
In the plea, Atiku and the PDP requested in particular that the court issue “An order Directing the Court’s Registry and the Parties on Modalities for Admission of Media Practitioners and their Equipment into the Courtroom.”
