The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lagos has declared Lagos Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat as the duly elected governor and deputy governor of Lagos State.
The declaration by the Tribunal was sequel to the decision of the panel to strike out the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP candidate, Mr Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor and his counterpart from the Labour Party, LP, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivor
It also affirmed the election of governor Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat.
“Given the evidence before the Tribunal, I have found Gov.Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Hamzat, duly elected and I therefore declared them winner of the March 18 governorship poll.”
The tribunal in it’s ruling declared that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy are qualified to contest the March 18 governorship election in the state under section 177 of the Constitution.
Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Mikhail Abdullahi stated that both Sanwo Olu and Hamzat are members of a political party and educated up to school certificate level, contrary to the claim by the petitioners.
Quoting section 177 of the constitution the judge said, “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of governor of a state if: (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; (b) he has attained the age of thirty-five years; (c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and (d) he has been educated up to at least a School Certificate level or its equivalent.
“We have considered the evidence before this court. He has the highest number of votes.
“This petition is dead on arrival in view of the evidence adduced before the court, the grounds on which the petitioners are seeking disqualification of 2nd and 3rd respondents lack merit. I have found Gov Sanwo-Olu and deputy Hamzat duly elected and therefore declared the winner.”
The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal hearing the petitions over the conduct of the March 18 governorship elections in Lagos State is presided over by Justices Mikhail Abdullahi, Arum Ashom and Igho Braimoh.
Shortly after the announcement of appearances by all lawyers & parties in the case, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Arum Ashom announced that the court will first deliver judgment in the case of the PDP & its candidate before giving its judgment in the petition of the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
Justice Ashom also yielded the floor to his brother judge, Justice Mikail Abdullahi to read the judgment on behalf of the panel.
In its judgment on the petition of Adediran, the tribunal first dwelt on the preliminary objections filed by the parties.
The first objection taken is whether the 3rd Respondent, the Deputy Governor of Lagos, Obafemi Hamzat is a separate and distinct candidate from the 2nd respondent, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The tribunal was also asked to determine whether the deputy governor could be listed as a respondent in the petition.
The Tribunal noted that this issue has been decided in a number of cases and went on to hold that a deputy governor and governor are not separate candidates and they are not required to pay separate security deposit.
In the second objection, the tribunal was asked to decide whether a person who lost an election could be joined as a respondent in an election petition.
Jandor had joined the Candidate of the Labour Party, Rhodes-Vivour as a respondent in his petition. Citing a list of decided cases, the tribunal agreed that a petition is contemplated to be filed between the winner and the loser of an election and not between two persons who lost.
The tribunal therefore upheld the prelim objection and subsequently struck out the name of the 5th respondent, Rhodes-Vivour from the petition filed by Jandor. The tribunal also expunged from its records all exhibits tendered in evidence by Rhodes-Vivour in the petition filed by Jandor.
The tribunal went on to hold that Rhodes-Vivour cannot subsequently go on to challenge any part of the judgment of the Jandor’s petition or else he becomes a meddlesome interloper.
In a similar vein, the Tribunal held that the 6th respondent, Labour Party, ought not to have made a respondent in Jandor & the PDP’s petition. The name of the party was subsequently struck out for being improperly joined. All evidence and exhibits concerning the party was also expunged from the tribunal’s records.
The Tribunal however disagreed with the objections made by the APC & its candidate that the Mis joinder of the LP & its candidate was a ground for striking out the petition.
The tribunal held, “That the 5th & 6th respondent ought not have been made respondents to the petition cannot rob the tribunal of the jurisdiction to hear the parties. The question of mis-joinder cannot lead to a striking out of the petition as the proper order to make is to strike out the names of the parties”.
“Already the name of the 5th respondent has been struck out and the 6th respondent who has been found to be improperly .”
