Lagos Tribunal upholds Governor Sanwo-Olu’s victory, describes Jandor as ‘busybody’

The Lagos Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has on Monday dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Olajide Adediran, popularly known as “Jandor” against the election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his deputy, Dr Ibafemi Hamzat.

The three-person Tribunal presided over by Justice Arum Ashom threw out the petition for lacking in merit.

In a unanimous judgment, it held that all the issues raised by the petitioners are pre-election matters of which the Tribunal lacks jurisdiction to entertain.

Other members of the panel are Justice Mikail Abdullahi and Justice Igho Braimoh.

Justice Mikail Abdullahi, who read the judgment on behalf of the panel said the petition did not fall under the provisions of sections 177 and 182 of the Nigerian Constitution (as amended).

He also declared that the tribunal did not have powers to inquire into the primary election of the APC which produced Sanwo-Olu because pre-election matter did not fall under its jurisdiction.

“Only an aspirant or member of a political party can complain about the outcome of the party’s primary, not a busybody like the petitioner,” he held.

Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat his closest rival, Rhodes-Vivour, who polled 312,329.

The candidate of the PDP, Adediran, came third with 62,449 votes.

Respondents in the petition filed by the PDP and Jandor are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party and its candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

They asked the Tribunal to disqualify Sanwo-Olu and Rhodes-Vivour for “non-compliance” with the Electoral Act 2022 as well as the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In the petition marked EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023 dated April 7, the petitioners said APC did not comply with the INEC timetable and schedule of activities for the 2023 general election, which stipulated that all political parties must give 21 days’ notice to INEC before the conduct of the primary election.