Appeal Court affirms Sanwo-Olu’s election as Lagos gov

The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Olajide Adediran, challenging the victory of Babajide Sanwo-Olu as the validly elected winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

The three-man panel unanimously affirmed the decision of the Lagos State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which on September 25 affirmed the victory of Sanwo-Olu.

The panel had earlier held that their decision would also be binding on the appeal filed by the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.

In its judgement delivered on Wednesday, the panel, led by Yargata Nimpar, held that the appellants failed to prove their allegations of forgery and non-qualification against Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat.

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In a related development, the appeal court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday reserved judgement in the appeal by the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, against the judgement of the tribunal, which declared the candidate of the PDP, David Ombugadu, as the winner of the state governorship election.

The tribunal, led by Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, held in a split judgement that, based on the proof from the various polling units before the tribunal, Ombugadu had the majority of valid votes at the election.

But Sule appealed the judgement and asked the appellate court to set it aside.

At the hearing on Wednesday, counsel for the governor, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), argued that the tribunal misapplied the law in reaching its decision.

He contended that the tribunal erroneously relied on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine tendered as evidence without any demonstration by the petitioners or the court.

Olanipekun averred that the tribunal did not see evidence of over-voting in any of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Form EC8AS tendered by the petitioners but went ahead to nullify his client’s election.

However, the PDP candidate’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), argued that the tribunal analysed the contents of the BVAS, contrary to the submissions of Olanipekun.

He added that if a court has examined exhibits before it, its judgement cannot be unfair.

Kanu then urged the court to dismiss the appeal, saying there were other arguments he could have made but could not due to time constraints.

The Court of Appeal, however, reserved judgement on the matter.

Plateau women organise prayer for Gov Mutfwang

Meanwhile, ahead of the Plateau State governorship election judgement by the appellate court, the women’s wing of the PDP in the state, on Wednesday, organised a solidarity rally and prayer for Governor Caleb Mutfwang.

The women, who trooped out in their hundreds from across all 17 local government areas of the state in black attire, converged at the Secretariat Junction in Jos, the state capital, for the rally.