Tribunal affirms Sanwo-Olu’s reelection as Lagos governor
The Lagos State governorship election petition tribunal has affirmed the re-election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected governor of the state.
Justice Mikhail Abdullahi affirmed Sanwo-Olu’s victory while dismissing the petitions of governorship candidates of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Olajide Adediran.
Rhodes-Vivour and Adediran filed separate petitions to contest the outcome of the last governorship election in the state.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Abdullahi, dismissed the petitions.
To arrive at the verdict, the court first dwelt on the preliminary objections raised by the parties before considering the issues raised for determination.
The tribunal considered whether it had the competence and jurisdiction to hear the petition. In his affirmative response, Justice Abdullahi decided that this matter had previously been settled at the preliminary objection stage.
The second matter up for decision was whether Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Obafemi Hamzat were validly nominated by their party, All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest the polls. The tribunal cited relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act and a plethora of decided cases to the effect that this was a pre-election issue that did not relate to the conduct of the polls being challenged.
The tribunal also held that the petitioners are not members of the 4th respondent, the APC, and therefore have no locus to challenge the primaries of the party that produced both men.
On the issue of the forged certificate allegedly presented by Governor Sanwo-Olu, the tribunal noted amongst other things that the petitioner Jandor who testified in his petition told the court that he did not attend the school, Community Grammar School, Ijebu-Ife, where the certificate originated from. He had also stated that the principal of the school was still alive.
The tribunal wondered why he did not bring the school’s principal or any other staff members as witnesses to testify about the certificate.
