Appeal court sets up by-election petitions tribunal for Lagos, Oyo

Monica Dongban-Mensem, president of the court of appeal, has constituted a tribunal to hear petitions on Saturday’s by-elections in Lagos and Oyo states.

On Saturday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted by-elections and rerun polls in 80 LGAs of 26 states, across 575 registration areas and 8,934 polling units.

The rerun polls were mandated by the courts, but the by-elections were held due to the resignations or deaths of members of the state and national assemblies.

The 26 states include Ebonyi, Yobe, Kebbi, Lagos, Ondo, Taraba, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Sokoto and Zamfara.

In Lagos and Oyo states, the election was conducted in two constituencies: Surulere federal constituency and Saki west state constituency.

Ibrahim Usman, the tribunal secretary, on Monday, said the panel would be sitting at Roseline Omotosho court house, Ikeja.

“For any enquiry, members of the public are advised to contact the tribunal’s registry at the aforementioned venue,” Usman was quoted as saying by NAN.

In Surulere federal constituency 1, Fuad Laguda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the by-election.

Laguda scored a total of 11,203 votes to defeat his strongest opponent, Jerry Afemighie of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 278 votes.

Adeola Adebanjo of the Labour Party (LP) garnered 240 votes.

In Oyo, Ibrahim Shittu, the candidate of the APC, won the rerun election conducted in Saki west state constituency.

The rerun election was conducted in some polling units in the constituency.

At the end of the rerun election, Shittu scored 13,850 votes, while his closest challenger, Julius Okedoyin of the PDP polled 13,670 votes.