Election court verdict on live broadcast not setback, says Atiku, PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the Feb. 25 election, Atiku Abubakar, said on Monday that the dismissal of their application for a live broadcast by the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) was not a setback to their petition against Sen. Bola Tinubu, the President-elect.

Counsel to the PDP and Abubakar, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, stated this while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after the PEPC’s decision.

“There is no setback here. The court, in its wisdom, decided that the subject of our application for live streaming and open telecast did not, in any way, connect with the merit of our petition.

“The petition is separate; it is ongoing. The application did not succeed in obtaining the televised version of the proceedings.

“As far as we are concerned, we are now set for hearing.

“Tomorrow, we will be heard by God’s grace for the pre-hearing report that will determine the progress of the petition and the time the petition will be heard and concluded,” Jegede said.

On whether they still had confidence in the court, the senior lawyer simply said, “For us, we are prepared for the hearing.”

On the issue of consolidation of the whole petitions, he said it was one that was compelled by statute and that they had no objection to it.

The Supreme earlier reported that the PEPC dismissed the applications by the two presidential candidates, Abubakar and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and their parties for a live televised broadcast of the proceedings for lacking merit.