The Kwara State National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ilorin on Friday barred journalists from covering its proceeding based on what was termed ‘pre-trial and need no media coverage.’

Despite earlier arrival and seated in the court of the Tribunals, the Registrar of the Tribunal, Yahaya Abdullahi, informed the journalists of the decision few minutes to the commencement of the sitting.

The Registrar who told journalists that the development was based on the directive of the three-man tribunal’s chairman, Justice Bitrus Sanga.

Meanwhile, all efforts to see the chairman proved abortive as his police orderly said that he had been ordered to direct any journalist to the tribunal secretary for any requests.

Speaking on the development, the secretary, Mrs Uzu Mesiobi-Emeto, however appealed to journalists to show understanding with the position of the tribunal.

After much pressure on the secretary and the orderly, they later went in to inform the chairman but the secretary later came out after some minutes and pleaded with the journalists that the sitting was a pre-trial conference which needed no media coverage.