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The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), sitting in Abuja, has cautioned lawyers representing all those who filed petitions before the court to avoid unnecessary technicalities and address the substance of their petitions.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the five-member panel with Justice Haruna Tsammani as Chairman, said this at the inaugural sitting of the panel.
The panel started sitting on Monday to hear petitions filed by aggrieved presidential aspirants against the declaration of Sen. Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winners of the disputed 2023 Presidential Election.
Other members of the panel are Justice Stephen Adah, Justice Misitura Bolaji-Yusuf,
Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo and Justice Abbah Mohammed.
In his opening speech, Justice Tsammani urged the lawyers not to engage in unnecessary technicalities as such could cause delays in the expeditious hearing of the petitions.
“Election is time bound, let us not waste unnecessary time, let us cooperate with each other so that everyone will leave here satisfied.
“Avoid unnecessary technicalities, we are determined to look at all the matters brought before us. Let us look at what is good for our country and avoid time wasting applications,” he said.
He said that there were five petitions and the first three petitions would be heard on Monday while the last two would be heard on Tuesday.
Responding, Mr Wole Olanipekun, SAN, said that as lawyers, they were bound by the law abiding and would adhere strictly to the rule of law throughout the proceedings.
Olanipekun gave the assurance that the lawyers would give their full support to the cause.
Other senior advocates also agreed with Olanipekun.
Shortly after the judges recessed after the opening to prepare to hear the petitions, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, walked into the courtroom and exchanged pleasantries with lawyers and litigants in court.
Recall that Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had declared Tinubu winner of the Feb. 25 Presidential Election.
Dissatisfied with the announcement, the candidates of the Labour Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others dragged the commission, the APC and Tinubu to court challenging his victory.
Members of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) would adjudicate on all petitions filed against the declaration of Tinubu and the APC as winners of the disputed 2023 Presidential Election.
Atiku, PDP make case for live broadcast of court proceedings
Meanwhile, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has approached the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) seeking an order allowing live broadcast of proceedings of his petition.
Atiku and the PDP in an application dated May 5, is specifically praying the court for an order directing the court’s registry and the parties on modalities for admission of media practitioners and their equipment into the courtroom.
The application filed by their team of lawyers led by Mr Chris Uche, SAN, is premised on the grounds that the matter before the court is a dispute over the outcome of the Presidential Election held on Feb. 25 and therefore a matter of national concern and public interest.
They also contended that being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, it was a matter of public interest where millions of Nigerians were stakeholders with a constitutional right to receive.
“An integral part of the constitutional duty of the court to hold proceedings in public is a discretion to allow public access to proceedings either physically or by electronic means.
“With the huge and tremendous technological advances and developments in Nigeria and beyond, including the current trend by this court towards embracing electronic procedures, virtual hearing and electronic filing, a departure from the rules to allow a regulated televising of the proceedings in this matter is in consonance with the maxim that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done.
“Televising court proceedings is not alien to this court, and will enhance public confidence.”
Recall that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), had in its communique at the end of its National Executive Committee meeting in Birnin Kebbi on March 23 made a similar call.
The NBA had urged the judiciary to allow for live broadcast of court hearings on election petitions, particularly the presidential election cases.
Also, a group, under the aegis of Leaders of Thoughts and Legal Icons, had supported the initiative.
The group had invited Nigerians to sign an appeal an online platform in support of the initiative.
Mr Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer also backed calls for live broadcast of election petition trials.
No date has been fixed for hearing of the application.
The tribunal began pre-hearing in the petitions challenging the outcome of the Feb. 25 presidential election today.
The Independent National Electoral Commission declared that Sen, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress polled 8,794,726 votes to win the election.
The commission declared that Atiku came second with 6,984,520 votes, while it announced Labour Party’s Peter Obi as the second runner-up with 6,101,533 votes.
But Atiku, Obi and some other parties rejected the results announced by INEC and had approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to annul Tinubu’s victory.
Atiku, in his 66-page petition, is praying the tribunal to declare him winner of the poll or order a fresh election.
On his part, Obi, in his petition, is also praying the tribunal to nullify Tinubu’s election.