Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, have urged the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Ikeja, Lagos State, to dismiss the petitions filed against them over their victory at the election held on March 18, 2023.

Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat, who are respondents in the petition filed by the Labour Party’s (LP) candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, told the tribunal that the petitioners had not demonstrated any basis to ascribe merit to their claims.

They also said the petitioners had not been able to prove the allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act. Rhodes-Vivour, had in his petition dated April 9, 2023, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Sanwo-Olu, was not qualified to contest the election.

Aside from Sanwo-Olu, other respondents in the petition include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat and APC as first to fourth respondents.

The LP candidate said he was aggrieved with the outcome of the election and the return of the governor (second respondent) as winner of the election. Besides, he said the second respondent did not satisfy the mandatory requirements of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), the Manual for Election Officials 2023 and the Regulation and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022.

Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Dr. Azeez Olajide Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, filed a petition against Sanwo-Olu on two grounds, stating that the governor and his deputy were at the time of the election not qualified to contest.

Adediran also said that Rhodes-Vivour, who was declared by INEC as having scored the second highest number of votes, was at the time of the election also not qualified to contest.

However, counsel to Sanwo-Olu, Hamzat and APC, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN) and Bode Olanipekun (SAN), in their final written address, told the tribunal that the petitioners were only able to muster a token of 62,449 votes out of over 1,100,000 valid votes cast by the electorate in Lagos State.

They submitted that despite the fact that the petitioners have not challenged the validity of a single vote cast, they have, however, failed to come to terms with their emphatic rejection by the electorate.

The counsel further said that the petitioners had failed to earn the trust and confidence of the electorate in Lagos State as demonstrated at the elections held across the 20 local councils in the state on March 18, 2023.

They, therefore, urged the tribunal to resolve the two issues for determination in favour of the second and third respondents, and consequently refrain from interfering with the overwhelming mandate given to the second and third respondents at the election.