Atiku, PDP seek live broadcast of election tribunal proceedings

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the just-concluded election, Atiku Abubakar, and the PDP have approached the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to seek an order allowing live broadcast of proceedings of his petition.

Atiku and the PDP, in an application dated May 5, is specifically praying the court for an order directing the court’s registry and the parties on modalities for admission of media practitioners and their equipment into the courtroom.

The application filed by their team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, SAN, is premised on the grounds that the matter before the court is a dispute over the outcome of the 2023 presidential election held on  February 25 and therefore a matter of national concern and public interest.

They also contended that being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, it was a matter of public interest where millions of Nigerians were stakeholders with a constitutional right to receive.

“An integral part of the constitutional duty of the court to hold proceedings in public is a discretion to allow public access to proceedings either physically or by electronic means.

“With the huge and tremendous technological advances and developments in Nigeria and beyond, including the current trend by this court towards embracing electronic procedures, virtual hearing, and electronic filing, a departure from the rules to allow a regulated televising of the proceedings in this matter is in consonance with the maxim that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done.

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“Televising court proceedings is not alien to this court, and will enhance public confidence,” they said.

No date has, however, been fixed for hearing of the application.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had, in its communique at the end of its National Executive Committee meeting in Birnin Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital on March 23, made a similar call.

The NBA had urged the judiciary to allow for live broadcast of court hearings on election petitions, particularly the presidential election cases.

Also, a group, under the aegis of Leaders of Thoughts and Legal Icons, supported the initiative.

The group had invited Nigerians to sign an appeal on an online platform in support of the initiative.

Renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, also backed calls for live broadcast of election petition trials.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared that Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 8,794,726 votes to win the presidential election.

The commission declared that Atiku came second with 6,984,520 votes, while it announced Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) as the second runner-up with 6,101,533 votes.

But Atiku, Obi, and some other parties rejected the results announced by INEC and approached the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory.

Atiku, in his 66-page petition, is praying the tribunal to declare him winner of the poll or order a fresh election.

On his part, Obi, in his petition, is also praying the tribunal to nullify Tinubu’s election.

The Star