The Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo has praised the decision of the presidential election tribunal which ruled against the request for the live broadcast of its proceedings.
Keyamo, who was the chief spokesperson for the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign organization said emotions and sentiments are not allowed in law.
It would be recalled that the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed a request to televise its daily proceedings on petitions seeking to overturn the 2023 presidential election results.
Justice Haruna Tsammani’s five-member panel rejected the application, brought by the two key candidates challenging the election results, as lacking merit.
The court ruled that no existing regulatory framework or policy allowed it to approve such a request. It stated that allowing cameras in the courtroom requires legal backing as a major judicial policy.
“We cannot permit a situation that may lead to dramatization of our proceedings,” Justice Tsammani declared.
The court argued that the request was not part of any relief in the petitions and was based merely on a sentimental claim of public interest.
It also emphasized that the petitioners failed to demonstrate how televising proceedings would benefit their case.
OsunDaily News recalls that presidential candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) initially requested live coverage, arguing that the case was a “matter of monumental national concern and public interest”.
However, both the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) called on the court to dismiss the application, which they described as an abuse of the legal process.
The request was eventually dismissed on Monday.
Reacting to the action of the court, Keyamo wrote on Twitter: “The law does not admit to emotions and sentiments.
“We shall continue to educate them.”
