The President-elect, Bola Tinubu has rejected the application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar for a live broadcast of the proceedings of the election petition.
Speaking via their team of counsels led by the Chief Wole Olanipekun, the President-elect and his vice, Kashim Shettima insisted that the application was a ridicule of the honourable court.
They urged the Presidential Election Petition Court to throw out the application adding that the relief demanded by the applicants is not such that the court could grant it.
The respondents said, “With much respect to the petitioners, the motion is an abuse of the processes of this honourable court.”
They further said the request of Atiku and his party should be thrown out because the court “is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment.”
In an attached written address, the respondents criticised the applicants’ reference to the fact that virtual proceedings were allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They further said that “At the very best, this application is academic, very otiose, very unnecessary, very time-wasting, most unusual and most unexpected, particularly, from a set of petitioners, who should be praying for the expeditious trial of their petition.
“Beyond all these, it is our submission that the court of law must and should always remain what it is, what it should be and what it is expected to be: a serene, disciplined, hallowed, tranquil, honourable and decorous institution and place.
“It is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment.
“With much respect to the petitioners, the motion is an abuse of the processes of this honourable court.”
