From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has dismissed applications by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi for live broadcast of proceedings for lacking in merit.

In a unanimous ruling, the court described the application by the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) as novel and with no utilitarian value.

Chairman of PEPC, Justice Haruna Tsammani, who delivered the lead ruling, said the reliefs sought were outside the substance of the petitions and equally outside the jurisdiction and competence of the election tribunal as the issue raised touches on policy formation.

The judge also held that it cannot permit a situation that would lead to the dramatisation of its proceedings.

“Allowing cameras is a major judicial policy which must be provided by rules of court, there is non yet. Avoidance of trial by ordeal of camera is better,” he said.

Tsammani who cited section 36 of the 1999 Constitution held that fair hearing of court proceedings “does not amount to conducting court sittings on television or in a stadium. The request (for a live broadcast of the court proceedings) has no utilitarian value. Live broadcast of court proceedings has no provisions in our statutory books. There is nowhere in the constitution and Electoral Act for televising court sittings.”

The court further held that the issue of live broadcast of court hearings has to be “a judicial policy” that would be put in place by the heads of courts.

“Live broadcast of proceedings is a judicial policy. We cannot permit a procedure that dramatises the court’s proceedings. This application is devoid of merit and it is accordingly dismissed,” he ruled.

In an application dated May 5, 2023, Atiku and the PDP  specifically prayed the tribunal 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 on their behalf by their team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche was predicated amongst other grounds that: The matter before the Honourable Court is a dispute over the outcome of the Presidential Election held on 25th February 2023, a matter 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 said election; and the international community as regards the workings of Nigeria’s electoral process.”

They contended that 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.

“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 Honourable 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.”

However,  Tinubu and  the All Progressives Congress (APC) opposed the application to have the court’s proceedings televised. They argued through their counsel, Wole Olanipekun that “the court of law must and should always be a serene, disciplined, hallowed, tranquil, honourable and decorous institution and place.

“It is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment. With much respect to the petitioners, the motion is an abuse of the processes of this honourable court.”

Counsel to APC, Lateef Fagbemi, similarly urged the court to dismiss PDP’s application which he likened to a call for a reality television show known as Big Brother Naija.

He said the court should not allow such a live broadcast like it is done in a show called “Big Brother Naija,” a submission that triggered laughter across the packed courtroom.

Uche, in his reply, cautioned that Fagbemi was trying to trivialise his application by likening it to a call for a show like Big Brother Naija.

Atiku and Obi had approached the court hearing their petition against the outcome of the February 25 presidential polls for an order allowing live broadcast of the day to day proceedings.

They both said the request for live broadcast was predicated on the grounds that the petitions were of monumental importance to the nation.

Atiku and the PDP as well as Obi and the Labour Party had in their separate applications specifically prayed 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.