A’court affirms Sanwo-Olu’s victory, dismisses Jandor’s appeal

The court of appeal in Lagos has dismissed the suit filed by Abdulazeez Adediran, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), against the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

In a unanimous decision delivered on Wednesday, the three-member panel led by Yargata Nimpar dismissed the grounds of appeal raised by Adediran, popularly known as Jandor.

The panel upheld the judgement of the tribunal that upheld the victory of Sanwo-Olu as the elected governor of Lagos, in the March 11 election.

BACKGROUND

In March, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Sanwo-Olu as the winner of the Lagos governorship election.

Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to defeat his close challenger, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), who scored 312,329 votes.

Jandor came a distant third with 62,449 votes.

On September 25, the Lagos governorship election petition tribunal dismissed the case filed by Adediran seeking to nullify the victory of Sanwo-Olu at the poll.

Displeased with the verdict, on October 13, Jandor filed 34 grounds of appeal challenging the judgment of the tribunal.

THE RULING

In its ruling, the court of appeal said Jandor’s appeal was premised on five issues.

The court struck out issues 1 and 4 while issues 2, 3, and 5 were resolved against the appellants.

On the alleged non-qualification of Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, the court ruled that the appellants cannot litigate on the issue because it is a pre-election matter.

The court held that the appellants failed to prove the allegation that Sanwo-Olu forged his West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) certificate.

“The appellant failed to call anybody from the school to testify, whether the principal or maker of the document,” the court said.

“To prove otherwise in an alleged forgery, the original and the fake must be presented.”

The court held that the appellants did not provide evidence to support their petition, adding that the court is not a Father Christmas.

“The court is not Father Christmas, even if the court is, we are not yet in the Christmas season,” the court said.

“They (referring to the appellants) came empty and left empty. This appeal lacks merit and thereby dismissed.”