BREAKING: Tribunal dismisses PDP, LP’s petition against APC

On Monday, the Lagos Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed the petitions filed by Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, of the People’s Democratic Party and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party to challenge Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s victory in the March 18 governorship election.

Jandor had challenged the outcomes of the March 18 governorship election in Lagos State, questioning Gov. Dr. Dot Obafemi Hamzat and Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

In his ruling on the challenges made by the respondents in the case, Justice Mikhail Abdullah made the announcement of the choice.

The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Arum Ashom, made the announcement shortly after it was revealed that all of the attorneys and parties involved in the case would be present at Monday’s hearing. He added that the court would first rule on the petition filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party’s candidate for governor, before ruling on the PDP and its candidate.

Justice Ashom also provided Justice Mikail Abdullahi with the chance to read the verdict of the panel.

Justice Igho Braimoh is the third member of the jury.

The tribunal’s decision, which Justice Abdullahi read aloud, first addressed the parties’ initial objections.

The question of whether Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the second respondent, and Obafemi Hamzat, the third respondent and deputy governor of Lagos, are separate and distinct candidates is the first criticism leveled. The tribunal was also asked to rule on whether the deputy governor could be named as a respondent in the petition.

As this issue has been decided in numerous cases, the Tribunal asserted that a deputy governor and governor are not separate candidates and are not required to submit separate security deposits.

In the second objection, the tribunal was asked to decide whether a candidate who lost an election could be added as a respondent in an election petition.

Jandor had joined him as a respondent to Rhodes-Vivour’s petition. The tribunal agreed, citing a number of previously decided cases, that a petition should only be filed between the winner and loser of an election, not between two losers.

Rhodes-Vivour was consequently deleted from Jandor’s petition as the fifth respondent after the tribunal upheld the initial objection. The tribunal also removed all of the evidence that Rhodes-Vivour had included in Jandor’s petition as proof from its files.