The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Lagos State, Abdulazeez Adediran, popularly called Jandor, has filed an appeal to challenge the judgement of the Lagos State Election Petition Tribunal which upheld the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
He filed the appeal before the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal.
Mr Adediran filed the suit together with his party, PDP.
A copy of the appeal was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.
Mr Adediran said his appeal with 34 grounds of appeal filed on 13 October (today, Friday) was an expression of his dissatisfaction with the verdict of the tribunal.
This comes about 18 days after the tribunal delivered the judgement affirming Mr Sanwo-Olu’s election on 25 September.
He claimed that the judgement was characterised by miscarriage of justice, and prayed the Court of Appeal to set it aside.
He said the tribunal erred in law and reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed his petition challenging the qualification of Mr Sanwo-Olu for the 18 March governorship election.
He said his petition was premised on the provision of Section 177(c) and 182(1)(j) of the Nigerian Constitution.
“By this action, I reaffirm my commitment to give a breath of fresh air in governance in Lagos State by ensuring that the provisions of the constitution and the electoral laws as regards the election of a truly qualified governor, is upheld,” he said.
Background
The Lagos Governorship Election Tribunal had on 25 September dismissed Mr Adediran’s petition as well as that of Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party challenging Mr Sanwolu’s election.
The court upheld the return of Mr Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state.
The tribunal held that the petition of Mr Adediran “is dead on arrival and it deserves a befitting burial.”
Ruling on whether Mr Sanwo-Olu and his deputy Obafemi Hamzat were validly nominated by their party, the APC, to contest the election, the tribunal cited relevant provisions of the constitution and the Electoral Act and a plethora of decided cases to the effect that this was a pre-election issue that did not relate to the conduct of the polls being challenged.
The judge noted that they are members of political parties and educated up to school certificate level.
“I affirmed the election of Sanwo-Olu Babajide Olushola as the duly elected governor of Lagos state, Nigeria,” Mikhail Abdullahi, a member of the three-member panel presiding over the tribunal, said.
(NAN)
