Abdul-Azeez Adediran
The Lagos state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and its gubernatorial candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran (Jandor), have filed a petition before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Lagos State.
PDP and Jandor are calling for the disqualification of the Labour Party (LP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the election for non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022.
In the petition marked EPT/LAG/GOV/01/2023 and dated April 7, the petitioners challenged the outcome of the March 18 gubernatorial election on the grounds of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While INEC is the 1st respondent, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy Governorship candidate, Obafemi Hamzat; the APC, the LP Governorship Candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and the LP, respectively, are the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th respondents.
Besides non-compliance with relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, Jandor and PDP, in their petition, are claiming that at the time of the Gubernatorial election held on March 18, 2023, Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat, and Rhodes-Vivour weren’t qualified to contest the poll.
The petitioners, therefore, prayed that all votes cast for them in the election be declared wasted.
Recall that Sanwo-Olu defeated 15 other contestants from different parties to emerge the winner of the Governorship election.
Sanwo-Olu polled 762,134 votes to beat his closest rival of the Labour Party, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who polled 312,329 votes in the election.
The PDP candidate, Jandor, garnered 62,449 votes to come third in the poll.