Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat to Tribunal: Uphold Our Mandate

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, have told the Lagos Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ikeja to uphold the mandate given to them on March 18 by the people of the state.

Urging the tribunal to preserve their “overwhelming mandate”, they also asked the three-man panel of judges to dismiss the petition filed against them by the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

The prayer was contained in their final written address submitted to the tribunal, led by the Chairman, Justice Arum Igyen Ashom. Justice Mikail Adubulahi and Justice I. P. Braimoh are members.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Sanwo-Olu, Dr. Hamzat and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the 1st to 4th respondents.

They said the petitioners had not demonstrated any basis for the tribunal to entertain them or ascribe merit to their claim.

They said the petitioners have not been able to prove the allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act in their petition.

Rhodes-Vivour had in his petition marked EPT/LAG/GOV/04/2023 dated April 9, 2023 said the APC governorship candidate, Sanwo-Olu, was not qualified to contest the election.

The LP candidate said he was aggrieved with the outcome of the election and the return of Governor Sanwo-Olu (2nd respondent) as the winner of the election.

He said the 2nd respondent did not satisfy the mandatory requirements of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended), Manual for Election Officials 2023, Regulation and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022.

Also, the People Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr. Azeez Olajide Adeniran aka Jandor said in their two-ground petition against Governor Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Hamzat that they were, at the time of election, not qualified to contest.

Adediran also filed petition against Rhodes-Vivour, who was declared by the 1st respondent (INEC) as having scored the second highest number of votes.

He claimed that the LP candidate, at the time of the election, was also not qualified to contest.

He urged the tribunal to nullify the votes of Sanwo-Olu and that of Rhodes-Vivour and for the panel to declare him winner of the governorship election.

The respondents through their lawyers, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN) and Bode Olanipekun (SAN) in their final written address in response to PDP and its candidate and Rhodes-Vivour, told the tribunal that the petitioners were only able to muster a token of 62, 449 votes out of over 1,100,000 valid votes cast by the electorate in Lagos State.

They submitted that despite the fact that the petitioners have not challenged the validity of a vote cast, they have, however, failed to come to terms with their emphatic rejection by the electorate in Lagos State.

They therefore urged the tribunal to dismiss the petitions and to resolve the issue in favour of 2nd and 3rd respondents.