In relation to the 2023 elections held on February 25 and March 11, the Lagos State Governorship, National, and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal has received a total of 48 petitions.
Four petitions were submitted to contest the state’s March 11, 2023, governorship elections, according to a breakdown of the petitions.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Abdul-Azeez Adediran, its candidate, filed along with the Allied People’s Movement (APM), the Action People’s Party (APP), and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party’s (LP) candidate for governor.
While a total of 13 petitions were filed to challenge the elections into the State House of Assembly, the Tribunal also received five petitions from five senatorial candidates and 26 petitions from House of Representatives candidates who lost during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
READ ALSO: Court Denies Bail To Lone Anti Tinubu Protester
Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, a candidate for the LP in the governorship elections, gave three reasons for his appeal. He claimed that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was ineligible to run for office at the time of the election.
Additionally, he claimed that Sanwo-Olu’s election was unconstitutional due to fraud or other violations of the Electoral Act of 2022 and the Constitution.
The third argument was that Sanwo-Olu was not legitimately elected by a majority of the valid votes cast in the election. As a result, the tribunal was urged to invalidate Sanwo-Olu’s return and proclaim him (Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour) the election’s winner.
According to two grounds of appeal cited in the case submitted by Abdul-Azeez Adediran and his political party, the PDP, the governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, were ineligible to run for office at the time of the election.
Adediran said that the Labour Party’s candidate for governor, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who was adjudged to have received the second-highest number of votes by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was likewise ineligible to run at the time of the election.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Obafemi Hamzat, the APC, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and the LP are named as the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth respondents, respectively, with INEC being the first respondent.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Labour Party (LP) candidates in the election are being called out for “non-compliance” with the Electoral Act of 2022 and INEC’s rules, according to the PDP candidate for governor. He has asked that all votes cast for these candidates in the election be declared invalid.
Both the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and Action Peoples Party (APP), who both submitted petitions to contest Sanwo-Olu’s win, omitted Funmilayo Kupoluyi and Abiola Adeyemi from their lists of candidates. These two women were the only female candidates for governor in the campaign.
In addition to the elections for governor, petitions were also submitted to contest the victories of James Abiodun Faleke, the secretary of the Tinubu/Shettima campaign organisation for the 2023 presidential elections, Femi Gbajabiamila, a former deputy governor of Lagos, Oluranti Adebule, and other candidates.
