The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has granted the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate, Dr Azeez Adediran (also known as Jandor), leave for substituted service of an election petition on the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The tribunal has also granted Adediran the same leave for the Labour Party’s Gubernatorial Candidate, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
The petition, with number EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023, has respondents including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sanwo-Olu, Sanwo-Olu’s Deputy, Dr Hamzat Obafemi, APC, Rhodes-Vivour, and Labour Party (LP).
According to Mr Austin Akpomreta, counsel to Adediran and PDP, the petitioners were unable to serve the respondents personally as they were not physically present to receive the court process. Thus, they requested leave to serve the petition and other processes on the Governor and his Deputy through any officer or the Secretary of APC in its Lagos State Secretariat at No. 151, Acme Road, Ikeja. Similarly, they requested to serve the petition and other processes on Rhodes-Vivour through any officer or Secretary of LP in its Lagos State Secretariat at No. 59, Oduduwa Way, GRA, Lagos.
Adediran and PDP claimed that Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Hamzat, were not qualified to contest at the time of the election. They also claimed that Rhodes-Vivour, declared by INEC to have scored the second-highest number of votes at the February 25 gubernatorial election, was also not qualified to contest at the time of the election.
Therefore, the PDP governorship candidate called for the disqualification of Sanwo-Olu and Rhodes-Vivour in the election for non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s guidelines. Adediran and PDP also requested that all votes cast for the two candidates in the election should be declared wasted.
In conclusion, the Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has granted the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate, Dr Azeez Adediran, leave for substituted service of an election petition on the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Labour Party’s Gubernatorial Candidate, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour. The petitioners have made claims regarding the respondents’ qualification to contest the election and called for their disqualification, along with a request to declare all votes cast for them wasted.
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