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Breaking:Court Reject Atiku’s Request Of Live Coverage Of Petitions

Published

12 months ago

May 22, 2023

The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, on Monday, rejected request to allow its day-to-day proceedings on petitions seeking to nullify the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, to be televised.

The Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five member panel dismissed as lacking in merit, the application which was brought before it by the two major candidates that are challenging the outcome of the presidential election that held on February 25.

The court held that no regulatory framework or policy direction, permitted it to grant such application.

It held that allowing cameras in the court room is a major judicial policy that must be supported by the law.

The court can only be guided and act in accordance with the practice directions and procedures approved by the President of the Court of Appeal.

“We cannot permit a situation that may lead to dramatization of our proceedings,” Justice Tsammani held.

Besides, the court held that the request was not part of any relief in the petitions before it, saying it was merely hinged on sentimental claim that it would benefit the electorates.

It maintained that the petitioners failed to establish how televising the proceedings would advance their case, adding that such live broadcast would not have any utilitarian value to add to the determination of the petitions.

Whereas it was a former Vice President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who came second in the election, that initially made the request for a live coverage, subsequently, candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, threw his weight behind the demand for live broadcast of proceedings of the court on the petitions.

The duo, through their lead lawyers, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, and Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN, maintained that petitions they lodged to query the declaration of the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as winner of the election, was “a matter of monumental national concern and public interest”.

They argued that the case involved the interest of citizens and electorates in the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, who he said voted and participated in the presidential poll.

Atiku and the PDP insisted that their case against Tinubu, being a unique electoral dispute with a peculiar constitutional dimension, they said it was a matter of public interest in which millions of Nigerian citizens and voters are stakeholders, with the constitutional right to be part of the proceedings.

They specifically applied for; “An order, directing the Court’s Registry and the parties on modalities for admission of Media Practitioners and their Equipments into the courtroom”.

“With the huge and tremendous technological advances and developments in Nigeria and beyond, including the current trend by this Honourable Court towards embracing electronic procedures, virtual hearing and electronic filing, a departure from the Rules to allow a regulated televising of the proceedings in this matter is in consonance with the maxim that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done.

Televising court proceedings is not alien to this Honourable Court, and will enhance public confidence”, the petitioners added.

However, in separate processes they filed before the court, both Tinubu and the APC urged the court to dismiss the application which they described as an abuse of the legal process.

Tinubu, in a counter-affifavit he filed alongside the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, accused Atiku of deliberately attempting to expose the judiciary to public opprobrium.

According to them, the court “is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for public entertainment.”

The respondents maintained that Atiku’s request had no bearing with the petition, insisting that it was only aimed at dissipating the judicial time of the court

They stressed that Atiku failed to realise that the virtual court system that was adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic, was backed by a practice direction that was administratively issued by the President of the Court of Appeal.

“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,” the respondents added.

Besides, they argued that the application was at best, “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..

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Frontfoot Media to host its 5th Media Audit Reporting workshop in Gombe

Published

8 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Nigerian Tracker

By Asile Abel,Jos

FrontFoot Media Initiative has concluded plans to hold the fifth edition of its Audit Reporting Training programme for journalists to be hosted in Gombe State.

Statement by the Front Foot Media Initiative Training Coordinator Mr Chido Nwakanma said previous trainings were held in Benin, Awka, Abuja, and Lagos state.

He added that, FrontFoot Media Initiative will hold the training under the auspices of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and the sponsorship of the MacArthur Foundation.

Mr Emeka Izeze, a director of FrontFoot Media, said “The Gombe programme will feature participants not only from Gombe but also from the neighbouring states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Plateau, and Taraba, a testament to the inclusivity and reach of Front Foot’s training initiatives. We look forward to training about 40 media personnel, each of whom plays a crucial role in our media landscape.”

Adding to the statement, Gombe State Governor, Muhammed Inuwa Yahaya would address participants in line with his agenda of openness and accountability.

Frontfoot Media Initiative also announced that Mr Ismaila Zakari, a past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, an Internal Auditor of Premium Pensions Abuja, and an ICAN Fellow, will lead the training supported by Mr Yusuf Doma, a Fellow of ICAN and Internal Auditor at Premium Pensions Abuja. Their expertise and guidance will ensure a high-quality learning experience for all participants.

The media and capacity building NGO described the programme as “a flagship capacity development programme of FrontFoot Media Initiative. It is a Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability project.

“In this effort, FrontFoot teams, accompanied by experts in the field, work in pre-selected states where they conduct free training for journalists. Participants learn how and where to locate the relevant reports, interpret the material, and write engaging news stories and features that enlighten, stimulate, and empower the electorate, and discourage impunity.” the statement added.

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Babangida’s Military Contemporary, Lt. General Garba Duba, Passes On at 82

Published

1 day ago

May 17, 2024

Nigerian Tracker

A military contemporary of Nigeria’s former military President, Lieutenant General Garba Duba, has died.

General Garba Duba died at the age of 82. A native of Kontagora, Niger State, Duba held several positions during his military career, including serving as Governor of Bauchi State in 1978 and as Governor of Sokoto State during Buhari’s regime.

An impeccable source told NIGERIAN TRACKER that the funeral prayer for the late Duba was held today, Friday, after Jumuat prayer at the National Mosque in Abuja.

Governor Muhammad Umar Bago of Niger State and legislators from the state attended the funeral prayer.

He joined the army as a Cadet Officer at the Nigerian Military Training College Zaria in 1962, presumably a course mate of Ibrahim Babangida. At the beginning of his career, he was at the Indian Military Academy. Duba was one of the northern officers who participated in the Nigerian counter-coup of 1966 which led to the death of General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. During the Nigeria Civil War, he was a Captain, commanding a squadron of armored vehicles. As military governor of Bauchi state, he provided infrastructure in the form of residential accommodation and offices, including secretariats for the newly-created 16 local government areas.

In 1993, he retired from the military and went into private businesses where he held positions like chairman, New Nigerian Development Company (NNDC), chairman of SGI Nigeria Limited, director in First Bank of Nigeria, non-executive director of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and chairman of the board of Leadway pension fund.

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ECOWAS Parliament to hold Second Extraordinary Session in Kano

Published

1 day ago

May 17, 2024

Nigerian Tracker

All arrangements have been concluded for the Second Extraordinary Session of the Sixth Legislature of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to be held in Kano, Nigeria.

The Second Extraordinary Session, according to the ECOWAS Parliament, will be held at the Bristol Hotel in Kano, the Commercial Centre of the country, between the 20th and 25th May, 2024.

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, attended the inaugural session of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament held on April 4, this year.

The Deputy President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Barau I Jibrin, emerged as the First Deputy Speaker of the assembly during the inauguration.

The event, according to a statement by the Special Adviser to the Deputy President of the Senate on Media and Publicity, Ismail Mudashir, will attract parliamentarians from Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote D’ Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Republic of Togo.

The ECOWAS Parliament, also known as the Community Parliament, is one of the institutions of the ECOWAS. It is the Assembly of Peoples of the Community, serving as a forum of dialogue, consultation and consensus for representatives of the people of West Africa to promote integration.

In a statement signed by special adviser to Senate President on Media and publicity Ismail Mudassir said the ECOWAS Parliament which was established under Articles 6 and 13 of the ECOWAS revised treaty of 1993, is composed of 115 seats.