By Ogochukwu Isioma
The Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT), sitting in Abuja, has dismissed the application of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), for live coverage of the tribunal’s proceedings.
In his ruling on Monday, Justice Haruna Tsammani, the lead justice of the tribunal, said the ‘novel’ motion lacks merit because the live broadcast coverage of court hearings is not backed by the constitution.
Justice Tsammani held that the matter is a policy issue, and that the tribunal lacks the authority to decide on it, without the necessary legal provisions being put in place.
The tribunal further stressed that it is guided by the rules as procedures, adding it only has powers to hear and determine the petitions before it and not experiment on innovations such as televising of court proceedings.
Details later…
