An Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lagos on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the Labour Party (LP) and reaffirmed Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected Governor of Lagos State in the March 9 polls.

The tribunal described the petition as a “futile and wasteful exercise”, noting that the petitioners (LP and Ifagbemi Awamaridi, its governorship candidate in the election) could not prove their allegations of mental incompetence against Sanwo-Olu in their evidence before the tribunal.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-man panel of judges led by Justice T. T Asua, in its three-hour judgment, held that the petitioners also failed to prove their allegations of election malpractice against Sanwo-Olu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

It held that its earlier decision to dismiss the petition which was later appealed by the petitioners was still valid because the petition was not filed according to the laws governing the electoral laws.

“The petitioners have failed to meet the requirement of the law. The petitioners have failed in our humble view to discharge the onus of proof which would have been placed on the Respondents.

“We confirm the return of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the duly elected Governor of the State,”Asua said.

Earlier, the tribunal had struck out the names of the fourth to seventh respondents (The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State INEC, Returning Officer for Lagos State Governorship Election, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State and the Nigeria Army).

It held that from evidence adduced, there were no ties linking them to the allegations contained in the petition.

NAN reports that during the hearing of the petition, the Petitioners had called six witnesses (including Awamaridi and three subpoenaed witnesses) while the Respondents did not call any witness.

Regarding Sanwo-Olu’s alleged mental ill health, the tribunal in the judgment said that the petitioners could not prove their allegations which were contained in paragraphs 19 and 20 of the Petition.

“No scintilla of evidence was presented to prove the assertion that the second respondent is of unsound mental health.

“No newspaper evidence and medical evidence from the Gbagada General Hospital was presented at the tribunal.

“PW5 openly stated in court that ‘the evidence does not exist’. That portion of the petition remains abandoned, and I so hold,”Asua said.

The tribunal noted that Awamaridi, while testifying during the hearing of the petition, said that he did cast a vote during the March 9 gubernatorial polls because he was certain his Permanent Voters Card (PVC) was cloned.

According to the tribunal, Awamaridi in his testimony could not pinpoint where the alleged irregularities took place, but rather asserted that everything within his knowledge was said by his agents.

“The journey of this petition has been a futile and wasteful exercise. PW1 (Awamaridi) as a witness, dumped the evidence on the tribunal and expected it to go on a voyage of discovery.

“Each document has to be related to the case; PW1 did not tie any of the evidence to the case. Since the petitioners did not link Exhibits P18 to P20 to their case, the evidence lacks probative value and are not relevant to their case.

“The petitioners have failed to structure the case within the parameters set by the apex courts. PW1, PW2 and PW4 testified in relation to polling units but could not tie their allegations to any specific polling unit,” the tribunal held.

Following the judgment, Mr Bola Aidi, counsel to the petitioners told the tribunal that the judgment would be studied.

“We are grateful for the time of the Judge on the judgment, we shall look at it and do the needful,” Aidi said.

Counsel to Sanwo-Olu, Mr Victor Okpara thanked the tribunal for the judgment, and described the doggedness of the petitioners as “the beauty of democracy”.

Mr Tunde Falola, Counsel to the APC appreciated the panel for the time spent on the judgment.

Justice Asua said that the records of the judgment would be made available within 24-hours.

As at the time of filing this report, the tribunal went on a break to reconvene to deliver a judgment on a similar petition filed by the Alliance for Democracy.

https://www.toriperi.com/2019/09/lagos-election-sanwo-olu-wins-at.html

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Who took this criminal governor to court?

Yes nau.what do u expect b4

As expected...



...

Make all una mark today's date oh
Na this sanwolu go be the worse governor for Lagos. He done dey show signs of failure already in the passed 100 days

ok

Tinubu already bought Lagos PDP,

How much will they sell PDP national broke party


..

Politics not a do or die affairs, I don't see reason for tribunal cases. If you loose go and repackage yourself. Stop wasting money on...

No one is losing at the tribunal now. Its all good

I fear lawyers.



Just imagine, a counsel adviced a maga to challenge APC for tribunal (in Lagos oo).

Next Please...

Lol. That is no news

Do you have a product or service that needs online marketing? Then let me handle that for you.

PM please.

condemn:
Make all una mark today's date oh
Na this sanwolu go be the worse governor for Lagos. He done dey show signs of failure already in the passed 100 days

And u think Ambode is the best governor in Lagos State so far

The Judiciary is already compromised, what is happening is that almost all incumbent governors will be kept on the seat by various tribunal...

that is because once in power they have every resources at disposal to retain seat and that includes bribing tribunal Judges, compare to an opponent challenger who borrows money to run campaign and continue borrowing to pay his advocate

condemn:
Make all una mark today's date oh
Na this sanwolu go be the worse governor for Lagos. He done dey show signs of failure already in the passed 100 days

you are only unnecessarily sentimental. look back after 2years and appraise him. then i will listen to you.

Oshodi una dey there!!!!

Olu my man

EmmyUrch:
Who took this criminal governor to court?

Yeegbo man get the hell out of Lagos and move back to Aba
We Yorubas voted him into power go and force Ike-azu abi na isi-azu governor of Abia to develop Aba

EmmyUrch:
Who took this criminal governor to court?

my brother,ambode was right about this guy when he said he is unfit to lead Lagos because of his character flaws
Ambode alleged the guy spent fake dollars in the us and was arrested you won't believe this guy behaved true to type by being consistent,he was not qualify to vote in the last governorship election but he voted using a fake voters card
If this were to be a functioning country with upright judges his election would have been nullified

surgical:
my brother,ambode was right about this guy when he said he is unfit to lead Lagos because of his character flaws
Ambode alleged the guy spent fake dollars in the us and was arrested you won't believe this guy behaved true to type by being consistent,he was not qualify to vote in the last governorship election but he voted using a fake voters card
If this were to be a functioning country with upright judges his election would have been nullified

Go and die he will be governor for 8 years
Where is Ambode today? The first governor of Lagos since 99 to do only one term\

He is still licking Jagabans yansh

Jchi9876:


Go and die he will be governor for 8 years
Where is Ambode today? The first governor of Lagos since 99 to do only one term\

He is still licking Jagabans yansh

you have no self worth why would you not support a criminal
If you are doing it because of party,you are a fool because those that eat the biggest meat from the party don't have time for people like you,this guy was commissioner 2times , head of a parastatal before he was selected to contest the election yet he was not a registered voter meaning if not that he was to contest,he had no intention of voting for his party,and one miscreants is saying 8 years,we shall know after supreme Court.

PDP can never be free from foolishness

condemn:
Make all una mark today's date oh
Na this sanwolu go be the worse governor for Lagos. He done dey show signs of failure already in the passed 100 days

Your brain don condemn true true. Great username choice.

condemn:
Make all una mark today's date oh
Na this sanwolu go be the worse governor for Lagos. He done dey show signs of failure already in the passed 100 days

.what do you expect .he gat to be paying returns to anyone who put him there. remember Ambode refused. why panic.

ohh