The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has replied to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar over his request to have the proceedings of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja to be aired live.
OsunDaily News reports that Atiku and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had, in an application dated May 5, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche (SAN), urged the Presidential Tribunal Court to grant permission for proceedings in the petition he lodged to challenge the return of Tinubu as the winner of the February 25th election, to be televised.
Responding to Atiku’s request through his lead counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Tinubu, while confirming receipt of the application, said he would need time to make his position on the request known.
“My Lords, my immediate response is that he will hear from us within the time allowed by the rules,” Tinubu told the court through his lawyers.
Likewise, counsel representing APC, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), acknowledged that the petitioners served him on Monday.
He said: “We are taking steps to respond appropriately to the application within the time permitted by the rules of this court.”
Earlier, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also confirmed that it was served with the application.
The Justice Tsanammi-led five-member panel adjourned further pre-hearing proceedings on Atiku’s petition till Thursday to enable the APC candidate to respond to the application seeking an order to allow live coverage of day-to-day proceedings on petitions seeking to nullify his election.
It ordered all the parties to sort out all the documents they would either concede to or object to, as well as key issues to be considered with respect to the petition.
The court held that it would hear the application for live coverage of its proceedings once all the respondents filed their responses.
