Sanwo-Olu, Others Ask Tribunal To Dismiss Rhodes-Vivour’s Petition

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, have urged the state’s Governorship Election Petition Tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by the candidate of the Labour Party’s (LP) for the March 18 election, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour for being incompetent.

Other respondents to the petition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also made similar applications asking the Tribunal to strike out and dismiss the petition.

They all argued in their separate applications that  Rhodes-Vivour’s petition is incompetent, fundamentally defective and vesting no jurisdiction on the tribunal to adjudicate on it.

Already the three-member tribunal led by Justice Arum Ashom had adjourned till the final judgment of its ruling on the applications. Other members of the tribunal are Justice Mikail Abdullahi and Justice Igho Braimoh.

While moving the application, Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun ( SAN), argued that the entire petition of Rhodes-Vivour is improperly constituted as the petitioner has not disclosed a valid right to present it.

Olanipekun also claimed that the foundation and premise of the petitioner’s alleged right to present the petition are that he was a candidate on the platform of the Labour Party, which has not been listed as a party to the petition.

He also pointed out that Obafemi Hamzat was sued as a party in the petition simply because he was a deputy governorship candidate, and none of the grounds of Rhodes-Vivour’s petition specifically referenced or made any complaint about him.

The senior lawyer, therefore, urged the Tribunal to strike out all the pleadings in the petition that relates to Hamzat.

On the contractual relationship between INEC and one Amazon Web service, the respondents say there is no allegation that parties to the contract did not fulfil their mutual obligations.

In his response to the application, Rhodes-Vivour, through his counsel, Olumide Ayeni (SAN), submitted that Section 133 (1) Electoral Act, 2022 allows the Petitioner to choose to present his petition alone with or without his sponsoring political party and that no violation of Paragraph 4(1)(b) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act, 2022 vitiating the petition is disclosed as it concerns the right or “valid” right of the petitioner to present the Petition.

The Tribunal has adjourned further proceedings in the petition till Monday, June 5th, when it will rule on the application by the petitioner seeking to consolidate his petition with that of the PDP and its candidate, Olajide Adediran also known as Jandor and also the application of the petitioner seeking leave of the tribunal to call additional witnesses.