The Lagos State Governorship Election Tribunal has struck out 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 election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Jandor is challenging the victory of Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18 governorship election in Lagos State.
Shortly after the announcement of appearances by all lawyers and parties in the case at Monday’s proceeding, 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 judgment in the petition of Rhodes-Vivour.
Justice Ashom also yielded the floor to his brother judge, Justice Mikail Abdullahi to read the judgment on behalf of the panel, while the third judge on the panel is Justice Igho Braimoh.
The tribunal, in its judgment read by Justice Abdullahi, first dwelt on the preliminary objections filed by the parties.
The first objection taken is whether the 3rd Respondent, the Deputy Governor of Lagos, Obafemi Hamzat, is a separate and distinct candidate from the 2nd respondent, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The Tribunal was also asked to determine whether the deputy governor could be listed as a respondent in the petition.
It noted that this issue has been decided in a number of cases and went on to hold that a deputy governor and governor are not separate candidates and they are not required to pay a separate security deposit.
In the second objection, the Tribunal was asked to decide whether a person who lost an election could be joined as a respondent in an election petition.
Jandor had joined Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as a respondent in his petition.
Citing a list of decided cases, the tribunal agreed that a petition is contemplated to be filed between the winner and the loser of an election and not between two persons who lost.
The tribunal therefore upheld the prelim objection and subsequently struck out the name of the 5th respondent, Rhodes-Vivour from the petition filed by Jandor and expunged from its records all exhibits tendered in evidence by Rhodes-Vivour in the petition filed by Jandor.
The tribunal went on to hold that Rhodes-Vivour cannot subsequently go on to challenge any part of the judgment of the Jandor’s petition or else he becomes a meddlesome interloper.
Also, the Tribunal held that the 6th respondent, the Labour Party ought not to have made a respondent in Jandor and the PDP’s petition.
The tribunal subsequently struck out the name of the party for being improperly joined and all evidence and exhibits concerning the party were also expunged from the tribunal’s records.
Tribunal Rejects APC’s Petition
The Tribunal, however, disagreed with the objections made by the APC and its candidate that the joinder of the LP and its candidate was a ground for striking out the petition.
The tribunal held, “That the 5th & 6th respondent ought not to have been made respondents to the petition cannot rob the tribunal of the jurisdiction to hear the parties. 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”.
“Already the name of the 5th respondent has been struck out and the 6th respondent who has been found to be improperly joined is also ordered to be struck out”.
Hearing of the judgment is still underway as of the time of filing this report.
