The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal will tomorrow (Monday) deliver judgment on the petitions filed by the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and his counterpart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor.
The Justice Arum Ashom-led panel communicated this message to parties on Saturday.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Rhodes-Vivour and Jandor are challenging the return of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18 governorship elections in Lagos State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
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On August 12, lawyers in the petitions adopted their final written addresses before the tribunal after which judgement was reserved in the cases.
At the resumed proceeding, counsel representing Governor Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat (2nd and 3rd respondents), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the petitions of the LP and PDP for lacking in merit.
He argued that the matter of non-qualification of the deputy governor as claimed by the LP was to no issue as the allegation of his renunciation of Nigerian citizenship and the swearing of oath of allegiance to the United States were not sufficiently proven.
He told the tribunal that the petitioner ‘abandoned’ his petition in his final written address, noting that there was no reference to the second respondent but instead the address dwelt on the third respondent.
‘They have abandoned their petition and also abandoned any issues against the second respondent. The petition borders on non-qualification and the written address borders on disqualification. There is a jurisprudential difference.
‘The petitioner also put some exhibits before the tribunal in respect of the third respondent. The exhibits have no name and no signature.’
‘The purported oath of allegiance is of Mr Nobody. It’s omnibus,’ he said.
He further submitted that election petition is different from election expedition. ‘It’s not a cruise. What the petitioner has embarked upon is a frivolous expedition. They are walking on banana peels and the petition has to fail. If wishes were horses, the petitioner may in future become governor. We urge the court not to accede to their request as it’s not the duty of the tribunal to assist the petitioner resuscitate their case which has been abandoned.