Moshood Adebayo and Romanus Okoye
The Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday dismissed petitions filed against Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and declared him to have been duly elected.
The three-man tribunal led by Justice Terhemen Asua, said that the petitioner, Ifagbemi Awamaridi of Labour Party (LP), did not adduce evidence to sustain his prayers, but rather dumped the evidence in a sealed envelop given the way he brought his case to the tribunal. The judgment also said the petitioner refused to tie his evidence with witnesses.
The tribunal said though the petitioner called six witnesses, only three testified and were unable to speak on specific incidences of breaches in a particular polling booth out of the 13,000 polling centres in Lagos State. He therefore ruled that the evidence presented were manifestly unreliable.
“The petition lacks merit and is hereby dismissed, and Sanwo-olu is hereby returned as the validly elected governor on March 9, 2019. He is the governor,”the tribunal chairman declared.
Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu has assured of his administration’s resolve to work with the judiciary to build a better society. The governor, who spoke through his deputy, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, during a special service to mark the 2019/2020 Legal Year in Lagos yesterday. He also reinstated his commitment to work with the judiciary to the “successful implementation of the reforms aimed at the further consolidation of the primus position of the Lagos judiciary”
He admitted that the judicial sector plays a critical role in ensuring law and order through the protection of rights of citizens to all citizens irrespective of status and stature.