PEPT: Court Rules on Live Coverage of Proceedings

The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in the Court of Appeal on Monday ruled that the live coverage of court proceedings will be novel and will add no value to the petitions.

Dismissing the petition, the five-member panel of Judges led by Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani said that such a petition was unprecedented and the sanctity of the courtroom must be respected.

“Televising the court cases is not provided for by the constitution and the powers do not reside hereon.

“This panel sitting as PEPT only has the power to listen to presidential cases.

“The issue of televising is a policy matter. This court has no power to write that policy.

However, the justices have the authority to give a legal right or enforce the televising of proceedings for the case of fair hearing and justice.

This court has hereby dismissed this.”

The petition which was applied by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party through his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN emphasized the importance of the live broadcast while President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu opposed the idea saying that the courtroom is not a social media affair and will engender public trust and confidence in the court.