Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s re-election victory has been upheld by the State’s Election Tribunal.
The petition filed by Olajide Adediran, known as Jandor, of the Peoples Democratic Party challenging Sanwo-Olu’s win was dismissed.
Justice Mikhail Abdullahi ruled that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Hamzat, met the qualifications to contest the election as stipulated in Section 177 of the Constitution.
This section requires candidates to be Nigerian citizens by birth, at least 35 years old, members of a political party, and educated to the School Certificate level or equivalent.
The judge stated, “We have considered the evidence before this court. He has the highest number of votes.
This petition is dead on arrival.” Justice Arum Ashom and Justice Igho Braimoh agreed with this judgment.
Previously, the Tribunal had rejected Jandor’s attempt to disqualify Governor Sanwo-Olu, arguing that Sanwo-Olu’s nomination by the All Progressives Party was wrongful.
However, the Tribunal ruled that Jandor’s petition was not a valid ground for disqualification under the Constitution.
Furthermore, the Tribunal stated that it had no authority to investigate the APC’s primary election that produced Sanwo-Olu, as it falls under pre-election matters outside its jurisdiction.
In addition, the Tribunal announced that it would deliver judgement on the petition of the Labour Party’s gubernatorial candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, separately.
The Tribunal also removed the Labour Party and its candidate from the list of respondents, explaining that election petitions are typically filed between the winner and the loser, not between two candidates who lost.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the governorship election, with 762,134 votes, defeating Rhodes-Vivour, who received 312,329 votes, and Jide Adediran, who came in third with 62,449 votes.
