The battle for the number one seat in Lagos State would be rested any moment from now, following the reservation of a date for judgment in two separate appeals challenging the outcome of the March 18 governorship election in the state.
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A five-member panel of justices of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, adjourned for judgment shortly after it concluded hearing in the appeals seeking to sack Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu as governor.
Both Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) and Olajide Adediran, alias Jandor of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), are laying claim to the seat currently occupied by Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and they are asking the apex court to declare them as the authentic winner of the March 18 governorship election in Lagos State.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Sanwo-Olu governor having won majority of the lawful votes cast in the election.
Dissatisfied, Rhodes-Vivour and Jandor, who came second and third respectively, had approached the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to challenge Sanwo-Olu’s victory at the poll.
They had alleged irregularities, malpractices, non-compliance, as well as corrupt practices amongst others upon which they want the court to void Sanwo-Olu’s election.
Besides, they argued that the governor was not qualified to be on the ballot for APC, on grounds of forgery and perjury.
But the tribunal and the Court of Appeal in their separate judgments held that the two different petitioners were unable to prove the allegations contained in the petitions and subsequently dismissed them for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
Still not satisfied, Rhodes-Vivour and Jandor appealed to the final court in the land to consider their case and ruled in their favour.
Besides the issues of non-compliance and corrupt practices, which they argued while adopting their respective written addresses, the appellants told the five-member panel of the Supreme Court to allow their appeals and sack Sanwo-Olu over complicity surrounding his WAEC certificate attached in his Form EC9 submitted to the INEC in aid of his qualification for the election.
However, the governor through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeals and agree with the findings of the two lower courts.
After listening to the arguments for and against the two separate appeals, Justice John Okoro, who presided over the panel, held that judgment has been reserved to a date that will be communicated to parties in the appeals.
While Sanwo-Olu had polled 762,134 votes to emerge winner of the Lagos State governorship election, Rhodes-Vivour scored 312,329, to emerge second and Jandor 62,499 votes as third.
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