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.
Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in two separate appeals filed by the governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Gbadebo-Rhodes Vivour, and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Azeez Adediran, challenging the March 18, 2023, governorship election.
The two parties filed an appeal against the judgment delivered by the Election Petitions Tribunal on September 25, 2023, which upheld the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat.
After hearing of the two separate appeals yesterday, the three-man panel headed by Justice Yargata Nimpar reserved judgment after taking arguments from the parties.
Other Justices of the panel are Justice Samuel Bola and Justice Paul Justice Paul Bassi.
The Judges said the date for the judgment would be communicated to the parties in the appeal.
The respondents in the appeal are the Independent National Electoral Commission, the governor and his deputy, and the All Progressives Congress.
Earlier in the proceeding, the lead counsel for Labour Party, Mr. Olagbade Benson, prayed the court to allow the appeal, set aside the decision of the tribunal and grant the reliefs sought therein.
He prayed the court to interpret Section 182 (1) (a) of the Constitution and its implication to the qualification of 2nd and 3rd respondents.
LP candidate, Rhodes Vivour, in his 21 grounds 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 Adeniran notice of appeal, dated October 13, 2023, he described the judgment of the lower court as a miscarriage of law. He prayed the court to set aside the judgment of the tribunal.
He said the tribunal erred in law and thereby reached a 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’ defence.
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, yesterday, told the court of Appeal sitting in Lagos 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 All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party were not qualified to contest the election due to constitutional breaches.