By Charles Adingupu
It was a rough day for two presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, when their application for live broadcast of the sittings of the Presidential Election Petition Court were on Monday 22 May, 2023, dismissed outrightly.
The five-man panel led by Justice Haruna Tsammani dismissed the request as lacking in merit and rejected it.
The five-man panel maintained that countries where cameras are allowed to broadcast such proceedings, have laws that permit the practice.
The court held that allowing cameras in the courtroom is a major judicial policy that must be supported by the law.
The Court also ruled that any attempt to allow cameras will automatically turn the court room into a theatre of a sort.
According to the ruling, no regulatory framework or policy direction permitted it to grant the application.
“The court can only be guided and act in accordance with the practice, directions and procedures approved by the President of the Court of Appeal.
“We cannot permit a situation that may lead to dramatization of our proceedings,” Justice Tsammani said.
Furthermore, the court held that the request was not part of any relief sought by the petitioners and had no bearing on it.
It ruled that the request for a live broadcast will not add to the determination of the petitions adding that the petitioners failed to establish how the live broadcast of the proceedings would advance their case.
