Presidential election tribunal asked to be made public to restore confidence in the judiciary

ONE Love Foundation founder Chief Patrick Eholor has requested that the sittings of Nigeria's presidential election tribunal proceedings addressing the petition against the recent results be televised live to restore confidence in the country's judiciary.

On Saturday February 25, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new president and the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) subsequently declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner. Among the other main gladiators in the contest were Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

Inec chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as the returning officer for the presidential election, declared Asiwaju Tinubu the victor of the contest with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Alhaji Abubakar of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes and Governor Obi who came third with 6,101,533 votes. However, the PDP and Labour Party have refused to accept the results and have gone to court to challenge them.

Chief Eholor explained that the televising of the presidential election tribunal will bring about transparency and credibility in the process. Although he acknowledged the fact that televising proceedings at the tribunal is not one of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, he added that it would help immensely.

“As a matter of fact, it is the only way Nigerians will be satisfied with the tribunal if it is televised because I am sure every Nigerian has an app on their phones and also a television or radio set at home so they can feel like they are physically present and part of the process because not everybody can be in the courtroom when the trial is going on so those who feel that they won or they lost the evidence will speak for itself. Moreover Nigerians will be able to see the pain the Inec chairman has caused Nigerians.”

“I am not sure if there is any provision, I am not a lawyer but it is common sense if we are going to keep Nigeria together. It will definitely make a huge difference, Nigerians are very intelligent, they are not stupid and they will be able to see the evidence admissible or inadmissible in court.

“They will be able to see the actual numbers of votes of each candidate that were in Inec’s portal and the chairman will be asked why he did not transmit the presidential results in their portal if he was able to transmit that of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These are all the grey areas that can heal our wounds if answered.

“Definitely, I can tell them why it is important the tribunal is televised live to Nigerians and the rest of the world because the country is bleeding, the people who voted for the candidates are unhappy. They want to know the reasons why their votes did not count and don’t forget that Usman Dan Fodio quoted that conscience is an open wound it is only truth that heals it," Chief Eholor added.