“It’s ab¥se of court,” President-elect Tinubu says as he opposes live broadcast of tribunal proceedings

The President-elect Bola Tinubu has opposed the application by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for a live broadcast of the proceedings of the election petition.

In response to the application, Tinubu and his vice, Kashim Shettima, through the team of their lawyers said the application is an “ab¥se of the processes of this honourable court.”

They implored the Presidential Election Petition Court to dismiss the application, arguing that the relief demanded by the applicants is not such that the court could grant it.

According to them, “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.

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…(continue reading from NEXT Slide)