Lagos Elections Tribunal Receives 48 Petitions From PDP, LP, Others

The Lagos State Governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal has received 48 petitions from aggrieved parties arising from the 2023 general elections.

Findings revealed that the secretariat of the Tribunal received four governorship petitions from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Action Peoples Party (APP).

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 are asking 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.

Besides the allegation of non-compliance with relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, Adediran added that at the time of the governorship election, Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and Rhodes-Vivour were not qualified to contest the election.

He asked that all votes cast for them in the election be declared wasted, and Adediran should be declared the winner.

But it is only the name of the Labour Party candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour that was listed as the petitioner in his petition. The Labour Party was not listed as a co-petitioner.

The respondents in Rhodes-Vivour’s petition are INEC, Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat and the APC.

He is praying for the Tribunal to declare him the winner of the Governorship election because Sanwo-Olu is not qualified to contest the election.

The Labour Party candidate also maintained that Sanwo-Olu’s election was invalid because of corrupt practices or non-compliance with the provision of the Electoral Act 2022 and the 1999 Constitution.

Rhodes-Vivour also argued that the governor was not duly elected by a majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.

Also, the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Action People’s Party (APP) did not include their candidates, Funmilayo Kupoluyi and Abiola Adeyemi, in their petitions.

They both argued in their separate Petitions that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy were not qualified to contest the election and that INEC failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.

Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat Rhodes-Vivour, his closest rival who scored 312,329 votes while Adediran who came third garnered 62,449 votes in the poll.

The Tribunal also received five Petitions from five Senatorial candidates and 26 Petitions from House of Representatives candidates that lost during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The election victories of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, former Deputy Governor of Lagos, Oluranti Adebule and Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, who served as the Secretary of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organization for the 2023 Presidential Election are all being challenged.