Tribunal to hear Agbaje’s petition on May 26

The Lagos state governorship election petition tribunal has fixed May 26 to begin hearing in the petition filed by Jimi Agbaje, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the April 11 election in the state.

Agbaje had petitioned the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Akinwunmi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner.

The date was fixed by the three-man tribunal presided over by Muhammad Sirajo.

The tribunal’s registrars said that hearing notices had been sent to all parties involved in the dispute.

The PDP candidate had alleged that he observed some irregularities during the election, which contravened the provisions of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) approved guidelines.

Ambode, INEC, APC and the INEC’s resident electoral commissioner for Lagos state are the respondents in the suit.

On May 5, the tribunal granted Agbaje leave to inspect all polling documents and devices used in the conduct of the poll.

It also ordered INEC to provide certified true copies of all polling documents, including printed data in each polling unit, from the card reader machines.

However, the tribunal rejected Agbaje’s request to inspect the polling documents and devices used in the conduct of the March 28 presidential election in the state.

The tribunal also rejected Agbaje’s freedom of information request asking the tribunal to order INEC to produce all polling documents and card reader machines used for the governorship election.

According to the panel, the petitioner can request for materials and documents he deems necessary to his case, by way of subpoena, when the tribunal has fully commenced proceedings.