The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has told Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the lead counsel to the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, that he is citing an old law against the request by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
Chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani had on Thursday drew the attention of Olanipekun to a portion of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers being wrongfully cited to justify Tinubu’s opposition to live coverage of proceedings in Atiku’s petition.
He told Tinubu’s counsel that he was citing an old law to justify his opposition against the request by Atiku for live coverage of proceedings of the court.
OsunDaily News reports that at the hearing on Thursday, Tinubu, APC, and INEC had separately kicked against Atiku’s request.
Atiku through his lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, had cited the monumental importance of the petition nationally and internationally to back up his demand for a live telecast of the proceedings.
But in his bid to justify his vehement opposition, Olanipekun had cited Paragraph 4.6 of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers which he claimed prohibited judicial officers from broadcasting, or televising proceedings during a court session
He cited the disputed law following the submissions by Chris Uche, that there was no law or statute barring live telecast of court proceedings at the moment.
As Olanipekun was about to read the portion of the law, Justice Tsammani cut in and told the legal luminary that he was citing the wrong law.
Justice Tsammani told Olanipekun that the portion he was citing to justify his arguments against live coverage had been amended and the portion being cited had been deleted completely.
The chairman of the court maintained that the portion being claimed by Olanipekun was no longer in the new Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers. While also making a case for a live broadcast of Atiku’s petition, Uche had drawn the attention of the court to Justice Oputa Panel of Inquiry which was telecast live and hailed all around in the country.
The senior lawyer said that none of the respondents would be prejudiced if the petition is broadcast live.
Specifically, he said that there was no single law or statute against the live broadcast of court proceedings adding that the fact that it has never been done before should not be misconstrued to mean that it cannot be done this time.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the court, Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani has adjourned ruling on the matter to a date that would be communicated to the parties
