The presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), atiku abubakarHe has turned to the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) seeking an order allowing live streaming of his petition proceedings.
Atiku and the PDP, in a request dated May 5, specifically asked the court for an order directing the court registry and the parties on the modalities for admitting media professionals and their equipment into the courtroom.
The request made by his team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, Senior Advocate for Nigeria (SAN), is based on the fact that the matter before the court is a dispute over the outcome of the presidential election held on February 25 and therefore , a matter of national interest and public interest.
They also held that, being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, it was a matter of public interest in which millions of Nigerians were stakeholders with a constitutional right to receive.
“An integral part of the constitutional duty of the court to conduct the proceedings in public is the discretion to allow public access to the proceedings, either physically or by electronic means.
“With the huge and tremendous advances and technological developments in Nigeria and beyond, including the current trend of this court to adopt electronic proceedings, virtual hearings and electronic filing, a deviation from the rules to allow a regulated television broadcast of proceedings in this This matter is in keeping with the maxim that justice must not only be done, but that it must be seen to be done.
“The televising of legal proceedings is no stranger to this court and will increase public confidence.”
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The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) recalls that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had in its statement at the end of its National Executive Committee meeting in Birnin Kebbi on March 23 made a similar call.
The NBA had urged the judiciary to allow live streaming of court hearings on election petitions, particularly presidential election cases.
In addition, a group, under the aegis of Thought Leaders and Legal Icons, had supported the initiative.
The group had invited Nigerians to sign an appeal on an online platform in support of the initiative.
Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer, also supported the calls for the live broadcast of the electoral petition cases.
No date has been set for the hearing of the lawsuit.
NAN reports that the court held its inaugural session and held pre-hearing sessions on some petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election on Monday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission stated that Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress got 8,794,726 votes to win the election.
The commission declared Atiku to come in second with 6,984,520 votes, while it announced Peter Obi of the Labor Party as the runner-up with 6,101,533 votes.
But Atiku, Mr. Obi and some other parties rejected the results announced by INEC and proceeded to the Presidential Election Petition Court to challenge Mr. Tinubu’s victory.
Both petitioners had urged the court in their separate petitioners to declare them winners of the election or to quash the poll and order a new one.
(YAYA)