No live broadcast of presidential election hearing, court rules

The presidential election court in Abuja has turned down the request of the opposition parties for the court to transmit its proceedings on television in real time.

The appeal court on Monday dismissed the applications by the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party with the five-member panel unanimously ruling that the application “lacked merit and was outside the scope of the petition.”

The judges said televising of proceedings was not provided for in any law.

“The court was created to hear and determine the petitions before it and cannot act as a vanguard,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the panel as saying.

“The undue pressure of allowing cameras into the courtroom should be avoided as the impact it would have on witnesses could not be predicted.

“The court is created to find out the truth and should be allowed to do so.”

The call for live transmission of proceedings was last week opposed by the ruling All Progressives Congress and its candidate in the election, Bola Tinubu, who was declared Nigeria’s president-elect.

Mr Tinubu’s lawyer said with journalists present, there was no need to allow live transmission as the court may not be able to supervise how such approval is executed.

– Why this matters

There is a swell of interest in the country in how the tribunal handle cases against the Feb. 25 presidential election. Opposition parties and many Nigerians say the poll was marred by violence and extensive rigging.

Mr Tinubu won in 12 states as the other two candidates, Atiku Abubakar of PDP and Peter Obi of LP. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party won in one state, Kano.

The election commission, Inec, announced the results without tallying them from its web platform IRev as promised, and independent collation of results by Premium Times and the BBC have shown that in at least one state, Rivers, the official result was manipulated. Inec dismissed the claim as “subjudice”.

– Learn more

The call for live broadcast was first made in March by the president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Yakubu Maikayu, who said the move will boost public confidence in the judiciary.

Chris Uche who represents the PDP in the case, on Thursday, told the tribunal live broadcast of proceedings should be allowed given the huge public attention in the matter.

Besides Mr Tinubu, Inec and the ruling APC also opposed the call.

The lawyer for the APC, Lateef Fagbemi, said the court should disallow a Big Brother Naija-type of live broadcast.

Abubakar Mahmoud, lawyer for Inec, said allowing the request would defeat the “solemn atmosphere” of the court.