LAGOS: Tribunal Dismisses APM, APP Petitions Against Sanwo-Olu’s Victory
The Lagos Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has struck out two petitions against the re-election of the state governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The development followed the withdrawal of the petitions by the concerned parties; Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and All Peoples Party (APP) on Wednesday, May 24.
Both parties filed petitions in April, asking for the nullification of Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
In their separate petitions, they argued that Sanwo-Olu and his deputy were not qualified to contest the election and that INEC failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.
However, the tribunal led by Justice Arum Ashok, struck out the petitions after both parties moved a motion for withdrawal.
According to the APM counsel, Henry Bello, the party’s candidate, Funmilayo Kupokiyi, has lost interest in the petition.
He also noted that the motion for withdrawal was predicated on four grounds and supported by the two affidavits deposed by Yusuf Dantalle, the party’s chairman.
“Our candidate has lost interest in the petition and has congratulated the second respondent (Sanwo-Olu),” he said.
Similarly, APP’s lawyer, Francis Eze, said the motion to withdraw the petition was based on the instruction of the party’s chairman, Okey Nwosu.
On March 20, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Sanwo-Olu the winner of the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State.
Governor Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to win the election for a second term of four years, while the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, came second with 312,329 votes, and Abdul-Azeez Adediran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), trailed in third place with 62,449 votes.
