The Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed the application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to allow for live coverage of the court proceedings.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the application for lacking in merit.
Justice Tsammani declared that allowing cameras in the courtroom is a major judicial policy that must be supported by the law.
The judge added: “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 dramatisation of our proceedings.”
Justice Tsammani ruled that the request was not part of any relief sought by the petitioners, adding that the request for a live broadcast would not add to the determination of the petitions.
He stated that the petitioners failed to establish how the live broadcast of the proceedings would advance their case.
Atiku and the PDP had filed an application for an order to allow the live coverage of the daily court proceedings on the case brought against the election of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, which commenced on Monday, May 8.
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The former Vice President and the PDP asked the court for an order directing the court’s registry and the parties on modalities for the admission of media practitioners and their equipment into the courtroom.
The application filed on their behalf by their team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, SAN, was predicated on the grounds that the matter before the court is a dispute over the outcome of the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
They argue that the matter is of national concern and public interest, involving citizens and voters in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who voted and participated in the election.
They added that the matter is critical because the international community is also interested as regards the workings of Nigeria’s electoral process.
According to Atiku, being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, it is a matter of public interest whereof millions of Nigerian citizens and voters are stakeholders with a constitutional right to receive.
