The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the February 25 election, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, said the dismissal of their application for a live broadcast by the presidential election petitions tribunal was not a setback to their petition against President-elect Bola Tinubu.

Eyitayo Jegede, SAN, the counsel to PDP and Mr Abubakar, stated this while fielding questions from journalists shortly after the tribunal’s decision.

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

He stated that the party was set for the hearing.

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

Asked if they still had confidence in the court, the senior lawyer said: “For us, we are prepared for a hearing.”

On consolidating the whole petitions, he said they were compelled by statute and had no objection to it.

The tribunal dismissed the applications by Mr Abubakar, PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party for a live televised of the proceedings for lacking in merit.

(NAN)