The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Atiku Abubakar, and his party had on Monday, reacted to the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on their application, requesting a live broadcast of the court hearings.
Atiku and PDP, who are challenging the victory of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election, asked the court for a live televised session of the court hearings.
Meanwhile, the tribunal also pleaded with the authority of the defendants, if the wish of the plaintiffs should be granted, but the defendant objected to granting such a request.
However, the tribunal dismissed the application on Monday, noting that the live televised of the court proceedings will not be adopted during the hearings, because it does not add to the merit of their judgement.
Reacting to the development through their legal representation, Eyitayo Jegede SAN, the plaintiffs stated that the dismissal of their application for a live broadcast by the presidential election petitions tribunal was not a setback to their petition against the defendants
Speaking while fielding questions from the journalists shortly after the court ruling, Jegede, stated the court said in its wisdom, that the request did not connect with the merit of their petition.
“There is no setback here,” he said. “The court, in its wisdom, decided that the subject of our application on the live streaming and open telecast did not, in any way, connect with the merit of our petition.”
He added that the party was ready for the hearing of its petition before the tribunal tomorrow.
“Tomorrow, we will be here by God’s grace for a pre-hearing report that will determine the progress of the petition and the time the petition will be heard and concluded,” Mr Jegede said.
When asked if they still had confidence in the court, the senior Advocate of Nigeria said: “For us, we are prepared for a hearing.”
The senior lawyer, who spoke on consolidating the whole petitions, said they were compelled by statute and had no objection to the development.
According to the news agency of Nigeria, the applications submitted before the tribunal, by Mr Abubakar, PDP and the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi and his party, for live televised proceedings, were dismissed by the court, for lack of merit.
