Lagos guber: Jandor seeks transfer of appeal to Abuja, says it’ll prevent interference

Abdul-Azeez Adediran, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos, is seeking the transfer of his appeal to Abuja.

On September 25, the Lagos governorship election tribunal dismissed the case filed by Adediran seeking to nullify the election of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as governor of the state.

Reacting to the ruling, Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, had said the tribunal refused to accept credible and convincing evidence presented by his legal team on the non-qualification of Sanwo-Olu and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) in the election.

On October 13, Jandor filed a 34 grounds of appeal challenging the judgment of the tribunal.

He said the tribunal erred in law and reached a wrong conclusion when it dismissed his petition.

In a letter dated October 23, Adediran asked Monica Dongban-Mensem, president of the court of appeal, to allow the transfer of the hearing of his appeal to the Abuja division of the court.

Adediran said his request was in line with Dongban-Mensem’s directive that all appeals arising from election petition cases across the country be transferred to the Abuja and Lagos divisions.

He said the transfer will ensure fairness and prevent interference.

“I write to humbly seek your gracious approval and directive, as the first petitioner, to have the above case transferred from its original jurisdiction, which is Lagos State to Abuja, to ensure fairness and objectivity devoid of potential meddling,” the letter reads.

“This seeks to achieve the same purpose upon which your lordship recently directed the transfer of all election petition appeals out of their original jurisdictions nationwide to safeguard neutrality, equity and to discourage interference.

“While awaiting your gracious approval, kindly accept my best regards.”