Election Tribunal Concludes Hearings, Awaits Judgment in Challenges Against Sanwo-Olu’s Election

Verdict Awaited in Petitions Against Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s Election

  • adopts written addresses from counsel

After an exhaustive series of hearings, the Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal has concluded proceedings and reserved its judgment concerning the petitions challenging the election victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat.

Headed by Justice Arum Igyen Ashom, the tribunal informed all parties involved that it would announce the judgment date subsequent to the adoption of final written submissions by the legal representatives.

Dr. Olajide Adediran, widely known as Jandor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, along with Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, have jointly filed petitions contesting the success of Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the All-Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat. These petitions challenge the outcome declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the March 18 governorship elections in Lagos State.

In the proceedings, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, called for the dismissal of both the Labour Party and PDP petitions on the grounds of lacking merit and being purely academic in nature. He pointed out that the claims made regarding the deputy governor’s non-qualification were unsubstantiated, and the allegations of dual citizenship and oath of allegiance to the United States were insufficiently supported.

The APC’s representative, Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, echoed similar sentiments, asserting that the petitioners failed to adequately prove the claims concerning the deputy governor’s citizenship.

Olatunji Benson, counsel to the Labour Party and its governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, maintained that the deputy governor did not meet the requirements for contesting, urging the tribunal to invalidate his and the governor’s positions and declare the petitioner as the rightful governor.

For the PDP, Clement Onwuenwunor argued in his final written submission that the discrepancies between Governor Sanwo-Olu’s WAEC statement of results and the names on the Master’s list provided by WAEC, along with inconsistencies in his first- and second-degree certificates, evidenced the petitioner’s claim of document forgery. Onwuenwunor also contended that Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour’s absence from the updated Membership Register of the Labour Party presented to INEC indicated his ineligibility for the governorship race.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Charles Edosonwan, representing INEC, called for the dismissal of Rhodes-Vivour’s petition due to a lack of substantial evidence.

As the anticipation builds, all parties await the tribunal’s verdict that will determine the fate of the disputed Lagos State governorship election.

He said, “One of the issues raised by the petitioner is whether the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act? On this issue, we say that they have provided no scintilla of proof to show it wasn’t.

“A petition erected on such an allegation was sought to be proven by 10 witnesses in a state that has 13,325 polling units. The petition is materially challenged

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