AbdulAzeez Olajide Adediran (also known as Jandor), the Lagos State Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, has taken action by filing a notice of appeal against the judgment handed down by the state election petition tribunal on September 25. The notice of appeal, a comprehensive 38-page document with 34 grounds, was officially submitted by a legal team led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Clement Onwuenwunor, and is dated October 13.
The notice of appeal lists the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Labour Party, and its candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, as respondents in the appeal.
Jandor’s grounds of appeal challenge the tribunal’s conclusion that the issue of disqualification of an election winner is solely a pre-election matter. He asserts that such disqualifications are both pre and post-election disputes, and the tribunal’s treatment of it as solely a pre-election issue is an error.
Furthermore, Jandor and his party reiterate the claims in their initial petitions, specifically requesting the disqualification of the APC and Labour Party candidates.
Jandor raises objections to the tribunal’s decision to strike out the Labour Party and its candidate from his petition, especially when he had raised numerous allegations of infractions against Rhodes-Vivour. He asserts that the law mandates that anyone facing allegations must be included as a party in the action.
