Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, have formally requested the Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal to dismiss the petition lodged by the Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
Recall that Rhodes-Vivour submitted a petition on April 9, challenging the election outcome on multiple grounds.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, have formally requested the Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal to dismiss the petition lodged by the Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
The incumbent governor and his deputy have cited insufficient evidence to substantiate Rhodes-Vivour’s claims as the primary basis for their request.
Presenting their case in a comprehensive 43-page final written address filed on July 22, 2023, Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat have urged the three-member tribunal to consider the petitioner’s lack of dedication to the case, as he neither submitted a witness statement nor personally appeared to validate his assertions.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) also joined the chorus in its response to Rhodes-Vivour’s petition, affirming that the evidence presented before the Justice Arum Ashom panel does not substantiate any irregularities in the votes garnered by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu or the alleged non-compliance with pertinent electoral laws.
Background
The contentious Lagos State governorship elections transpired on March 18, 2023, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaring Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat as winners after amassing a commanding 762,134 lawful votes, thus fulfilling both the geographical and numerical requisites for victory.
In a significant contrast, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour secured 312,329 votes, marking his position as the second-place finisher in the polls. This count amounted to less than half of the votes garnered by the declared victors and roughly 27 percent of the total valid votes cast during the elections.
In response to these results, Rhodes-Vivour submitted a petition on April 9, challenging the election outcome on multiple grounds, including alleged non-qualification and purported corrupt practices or non-adherence to the stipulations of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Governor Sanwo-Olu and Deputy Hamzat have fervently opposed these claims in their final written address, pointing out the dearth of substantive evidence provided by Rhodes-Vivour to back his allegations. The respondents underscored that the petitioner called upon merely nine witnesses across 20 local governments and over 13,000 polling units in Lagos, with only one polling unit agent compelled to testify via subpoena.
The respondents further illuminated Rhodes-Vivour’s lack of engagement with the petition’s proceedings, highlighting his failure to offer any witness statements or written depositions alongside his initial filing. They argued that the petitioner, as the ultimate beneficiary of the petition, should have actively contributed evidence to substantiate his claims.
Governor Sanwo-Olu and Deputy Hamzat, through their legal representatives, emphasized a central issue for the Tribunal’s consideration: whether the provided evidence, in conjunction with constitutional and statutory provisions, validates a revision of the INEC’s election outcome declaration.
