The candidate of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Chief Owolabi Salis, who is asking the Supreme Court to nullify the March 2019 governorship election that produced Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said he was determined to get Justice for the people of Lagos.
“I want the Supreme Court to decide on the “interest of justice” rather than mere technicalities that has regressed the society,” he said on Monday.
In a statement, he reiterated that when the judicial decision is based on “interest of justice”, there will be development and above all respect for the judicial system.
Salis and AD in their petition argued that the candidate of the APC was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election, and that he (Sanwo-Olu) was not qualified to have contested the Lagos State Gubernatorial Elections in 2019.
According to the petitioners, the declaration of Sanwo-Olu by INEC was therefore null and void.
They stated that Sanwo-Olu was purportedly declared and returned as the winner of the election without lawful votes, and without the qualification to have contested the elections.
The AD candidate had lost at the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal respectively while the case has been slated for hearing on Tuesday by the Supreme Court.
In the statement issued on Monday, Salis expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would uphold his prayers and sack the incumbent governor.
He said: “Interest of Justice” breeds fair competition, encourages development and promotes peace and stability.
“The “interest of justice” in an election matter demands that the candidate is qualified and the votes are valid votes.
“The documentary facts before the justices show that the candidate is not qualified for presenting a cloned voters card and the votes are allocated votes not the valid votes. Ballot votes are different from what is recorded on the result sheets at the polling booths which are also different from what is recorded at the ward collation and that is also different from local government collation and lastly different from the state results. These evidence are before the justices. Zero was allocated to me in Ifako Ijaiye for example despite all the votes for AD. I don’t think the Supreme Court will allow this injustice to go unchecked.
“The voters in Lagos have the right to exercise their votes but APC lagos denied this right through intimidation and thuggery. The voters in Lagos have the right to make their votes count but APC Lagos denied this right through all forms of electoral fraud including intimidation, abuse of freedom of choice by voters among others.
“The evidence are also before the justices to show that the number of accredited voters did not tally with the number of actual voters declared in the Lagos 2019 governorship. The ruling party APC and its candidate maintained several black spots in Lagos and outside Lagos where illegal thumbprinting and other several forms of electoral malpractices were planned and executed to the detriment of the voters in Lagos and in breach of the electoral laws and constitution of Nigeria.
“We all know in Lagos, there was egregious overspending by APC that unreasonably exceeded the limit provided by the electoral laws of the land. Most of the spending were sourced out of public funds to the detriment of the other parties. The spending is done to justify rigging and make people think they are popular when they are not.
“It is not the freewill of Lagos voters to be ruled by fraudulent and illegal votes. This is also contrary to the electoral laws and constitution of the land.
“Rigging, violence and writing election results by mere allocation has promoted voter’s apathy in Lagos. There are estimated over 3,500,000 voters in Lagos that are willing to vote against APC who were intimidated from voting through thuggery, antitrust acts and other electoral malpractices. We need Supreme Court to the rescue.
“The international and local observers appointed by INEC corroborated the above allegations in addition with millions of Lagosians who felt helpless, hopeless and discouraged waiting for the temple of justice to act.
“The people in Lagos feel that an individual have enslaved their rights to freedom, became victims of thuggery, intimidation and other forms of electoral malpractices. Lagos state is known to many Nigerians as a center of excellence. The activities of the ruling party APC in promoting thuggeries, vote buying, fraud and other forms of electoral malpractices is eroding the value of the state to the annoyance of majority of the residents of Lagos State and want the justices to act.
“It is my belief that temple of justice exists to regulate our relationships and are expected to take decisions to advance the political and social economic interests of the people. In so doing, the temple of justice will prescribe punishments against gross abusers to deter future breaches. This will ultimately promote a decent society where all can live in harmony and peace.
“It is also my belief that credits should not be given to those who continue to breach the law, breach the constitution, disrespect justice, promote thuggeries, disrupt peace of the people, restrict fundamental freedom of the people and or engage in Watergate and antitrust behaviour. It is the duty of the temple of justice to correct these ills and this petitioner is brought to correct same and to let justice, law and order prevail in the interest of all.”
