The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal has cancelled the Labour Party and its candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, from the petition of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Olajide Adediran popularly known as Jandor, against the recent governorship election.
The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal thereby has affirmed the victory of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and dismissed the petitions of Jandor (PDP) and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (LP)
The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal has struck out the names of the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, from the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, against the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, in the March 18 governorship election.
The tribunal delivered its judgment on Monday, September 25, 2023, at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Arum Ashom, announced that the court would first deliver judgment in the case of the PDP and its candidate before giving its verdict in the petition of the LP and its candidate.
He also delegated his brother judge, Justice Mikail Abdullahi, to read the judgment on behalf of the panel. The third judge on the panel is Justice Igho Braimoh.
The tribunal, in its judgment read by Justice Abdullahi, first dealt with the preliminary objections raised by the parties.
The first objection was whether the deputy governor, Hamzat, was a separate and distinct candidate from the governor, Sanwo-Olu, and whether he could be listed as a respondent in the petition.
The tribunal held that a deputy governor and a governor are not separate candidates and they are not required to pay a separate security deposit. The tribunal cited several decided cases to support its position.
The second objection was whether a person who lost an election could be joined as a respondent in an election petition.
Jandor had joined the candidate of the LP, Rhodes-Vivour, as a respondent in his petition. The tribunal held that a petition is meant to be filed between the winner and the loser of an election and not between two persons who lost.
The tribunal relied on a list of decided cases to uphold the objection and subsequently struck out the name of Rhodes-Vivour from Jandor’s petition. The tribunal also expunged from its records all exhibits tendered by Rhodes-Vivour in Jandor’s petition.
The tribunal further held that Rhodes-Vivour could not challenge any part of Jandor’s petition or else he would become a meddlesome interloper.
Similarly, the tribunal held that the LP should not have been made a respondent in Jandor and PDP’s petition. The name of the party was also struck out for being improperly joined. All evidence and exhibits relating to the party were also expunged from the tribunal’s records.
However, the tribunal disagreed with the objections made by Sanwo-Olu and his party, All Progressives Congress (APC), that the misjoinder of LP and its candidate was a ground for striking out Jandor’s petition.
The tribunal held that “the question of misjoinder cannot lead to a striking out of the petition as the proper order to make is to strike out the names of the parties”.
