Court Declines To Allow Live Coverage Of Petitions Filed Against Tinubu

The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), which is based in Abuja, denied a request to broadcast its daily hearings on petitions that would have overturned the results of the 2023 presidential election on Monday.

The case, which was made before it by the two main contenders contesting the results of the February 25 presidential election, was rejected by the five-member panel, which is chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani, as lacking merit.

The court ruled that no legislative scheme or administrative directive gave it the right to approve such an application.

According to their conclusion, permitting cameras in courtrooms is a significant judicial policy that needs to be protected by the law.

"The court can only be guided and act in accordance with the practice directions and procedures approved by the President of the Court of Appeal.

"We cannot permit a situation that may lead to dramatization of our proceedings," Justice Tsammani held.

Furthermore, the court ruled that the request did not form part of any relief sought in the petitions it was considering, stating that it was purely based on an emotional argument that it would help the electorates.

It argued that the petitioners had not shown how having the proceedings broadcast live would help their cause and that there would be no added benefit to the petitions' resolution by doing so.

While Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and PDP candidate who finished second in the election, was the one who first requested live coverage, Mr. Peter Obi, a candidate for the Labour Party, later joined the call for a live broadcast of the court's proceedings on the petitions.

The two argued that the petitions they filed to contest the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, as the election's victor, were "a matter of monumental national concern and public interest" through the representation of their lead attorneys, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, and Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN.