Nigeria’s President–elect, Bola Tinubu has asked the ongoing Presidential election petition tribunal to dismiss the application by Atiku Abubakar and the PDP for a live broadcast of its proceedings as an abuse of the court process.
Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima further prayed the court to refuse the application on the grounds that ‘the court is not a rostrum or a soapbox and not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment.’
This was contained in their response to Atiku’s application filed by their lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York on Thursday.
Besides the issue of abuse of court processes, Tinubu and Shettima, in their counter-affidavit argued that the application was outside the jurisdiction and competence of the election tribunal as the issues raised touched on policy formulation.
‘The application also touches on the powers and jurisdiction invested in the President of the Court of Appeal by the Constitution, over which this honourable court as presently constituted cannot entertain.
‘The application touches on the administrative functions, which are exclusively reserved for the President of the Court of Appeal. The application is aimed at dissipating the precious judicial time of this honourable court. The said application does not have any bearing with the petition filed by the petitioners before this honourable court. It is in the interest of justice for this honourable court to dismiss the said application filed by the petitioners,’ they said.
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Tinubu equally attacked Tinubu’s reference to the fact that virtual proceedings were allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that he failed to highlight the fact that practice directions were made by the respective courts for the exercise.
‘Another angle to this very curious application is the invitation it extends to the court to make an order that it cannot supervise. The position of the law remains, and we do submit that the court, like nature, does not make an order in vain or an order which is incapable of enforcement. 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.’
Petitioners have brought their application under Section 36(3) of the Constitution which provides that the proceedings of a court/tribunal shall be held in public.
The application filed on their behalf by their team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, is predicated amongst other grounds that: The matter before the Honourable Court is a dispute over the outcome of the presidential election held on 25th February 2023, a matter of national concern and public interest, involving citizens and voters in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who voted and participated in the said election and the international community as regards the workings of Nigeria’s electoral process.