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Court to Announce Ruling on Lagos LP, PDP’s Appeal
Court to announce ruling on Lagos LP, PDP’s appeal
Chairman, Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC), Cornelius Ojelabi (left); Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs. Bimbo Salu-Hundeyin, after the Appeal Court ruling on this year’s governorship election at Igbosere, yesterday. PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU
The Court of Appeal has reserved its judgment in two separate appeals filed by Gbadebo-Rhodes Vivour, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, and Azeez Adediran, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the governorship election held on March 18, 2023.
NewsReport indicated that both parties have lodged an appeal against the Election Petitions Tribunal’s ruling on September 25, 2023, which affirmed the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat.
After hearing the two separate appeals yesterday, the three-member panel led by Justice Yargata Nimpar reserved judgment after hearing arguments from the parties.
The panel also includes Justices Samuel Bola and Paul Bassi.
The judges stated that the date for the judgment would be communicated to the parties in the appeal.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, the governor and his deputy, and the All Progressives Congress are the respondents in the appeal.
Earlier in the proceedings, Mr. Olagbade Benson, the lead counsel for the Labour Party, asked the court to allow the appeal, set aside the tribunal’s decision, and grant the reliefs sought.
He asked the court to interpret Section 182(1)(a) of the Constitution and its implications for the second and third respondents’ qualifications.
LP candidate Rhodes Vivour, in his 21-ground notice of appeal dated October 7, 2023, challenged the decision of the tribunal, which upheld the return of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The PDP candidate, Azeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, filed 34 grounds of appeal against the judgment of the tribunal.
In the Adeniran notice of appeal, dated October 13, 2023, he described the judgment of the lower court as a miscarriage of law. He prayed to the court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal.
He said the tribunal erred in law and thereby reached the wrong conclusion when it dismissed the petition he filed to challenge the qualification of Sanwo-Olu, who was announced as the winner of the election.
In his response, counsel for Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, Mr. Bode Olanipekun (SAN), submitted that the reliefs sought by the appellants are such that they must succeed on the strength of their petition and not on the weakness of the respondents’ defense.
He argued that the appellants did not prove anything before the lower tribunal, and no burden shifted to the respondents to disprove any fact.
Meanwhile, the PDP told the court of appeals sitting in Lagos yesterday that its candidate for the 2023 governorship election, Adediran, was the only candidate who met the constitutional requirement to stand for the March 18 governorship election.
The party claimed the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party were not qualified to contest the election due to constitutional breaches.
