LP Witness Claims Sanwo-Olu, Wife Voted With Invalid Cards

A witness presented before the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal by the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has claimed that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his wife, Ibijoke, were allowed to cast their votes despite their voter cards being invalid.

The witness, Dayo Israel, who claimed to be an agent of the LP, also told the tribunal headed by Justice Arum Ashom that he concluded his observation of the process during the elections.

Rhodes-Vivour in his petition,  asked the tribunal to nullify the return of Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, because they did not qualify to contest the election and they did not score the highest lawful votes cast during the election.

The respondents to the petition are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

While being led in evidence by Rhodes-Vivour’s lead counsel, Olumide Ayeni (SAN), the witness told the court that he served as an agent for LP  for Unit 006, Ward 15, Lagos Island local government in the governorship election.

He  testified that he observed that the card reader showed that Sanwo-Olu and his wife’s voter cards were invalid but allowed to cast their votes, which was against INEC’s electoral process.

Under cross-examination from counsel to INEC, Charles Edosomwan (SAN), the witness also claimed he was beaten up on the day of the election by some APC supporters and knew they were the party’s members from how they spoke.

He said, “I am not a member of the Labour Party, but I was assigned as an agent. When the APC thugs recognised me as an LP agent, they beat me up.

They also said if voters did not vote for APC, they would beat them too,” he said

The tribunal has adjourned till July 3 to continue the hearing in the petition.