The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has told the lead counsel to President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Wole Olanipekun that he is citing an old law against the live coverage request by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani, chairman of the court, 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.
At the hearing, Tinubu, All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission separately kicked against Atiku’s request.
The PDP candidate, through his lead counsel, Chris Uche, had cited the monumental importance of the petition nationally and internationally to back up his demand for a live telecast of the proceedings.
However 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.
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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, but 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.
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 and no longer in the new Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers.
Uche, while also making a case for a live broadcast of Atiku’s petition, drew the attention of the court to Justice Oputa Panel of Inquiry which was telecast live and hailed all around in the country.
According to the senior lawyer, none of the respondents would be prejudiced if the petition is broadcast live.
Conclusively, he said the fact that live telecast has never been done before should not be misconstrued to mean that it cannot be done this time.
Tsammani however adjourned ruling on the matter to a date that would be communicated to the parties.
