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The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on Friday upheld the election of George Olawande Adegeye, the representative for Amuwo-Odofin Constituency in the House of Representatives.
This affirmation follows the dismissal of petitions challenging his victory in the February 25 election.
The petitioners are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), as well as their respective candidates in the election.
Their primary contention revolved around Adegeye’s sponsorship by the Labour Party (LP) and his prior membership in the party before the election.
However, the Court of Appeal panel, consisting of Justices M.L. Shuaib, J.E Ekanem, and P.A Bassi, unanimously ruled that the appellants lacked the authority to determine a political party’s membership or choose its candidate for an election.
While dismissing the appeals, the Justices agreed with the counsel to Adegeye and LP on an objection filed earlier regarding the case being a pre-election matter and held that the National Assembly Petition Tribunal lacked the necessary jurisdiction to have entertained the matter initially and therefore struck them out.
Muyiwa Ogunkolade, counsel for Adegeye, had earlier challenged the jurisdiction of the lower tribunal to entertain and decide on the petitions.
He argued that matters concerning the nomination and sponsorship of Adegeye by the LP were internal party affairs and external parties, referred to as meddlesome interlopers, had no standing to challenge them.
Furthermore, Ogunkolade argued that the issues raised in the various petitions pertained to pre-election matters, falling outside the jurisdiction of the Election Tribunal.
Reacting to the judgment, Ogunkolade stated that the well delivered judgment had laid to rest the dead issue of pre-election matters peddled by the appellants. He commended the courage shown by the Justices to stand for the constitution in the face of intimidation and attempt to induce the court. Earlier during the hearing of the Appeal, Hon Justice Shuaib had lamented attempts by some powerful individuals to influence the decision of the court.
Ogunkolade said that: “The litigation which took off from the tribunal and finally ended at the Court of Appeal was obviously not necessary because the victory of Adegeye with 46,702 of the valid votes cast to defeat Prince Lanre Sanusi of the APC, who got 12,946 is too resounding to warrant this judicial rascality.
“The appellants deliberately took this wickedly orchestrated action to distract Hon Adegeye and above all made him spend resources that would have added value to the good people of Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency. Despite all their anti-people actions he has been assisting the people generously and performing his legislative functions judiciously.”
The lawmaker in his remark, dedicated the judgment firstly to his beloved mother, Hon. (Mrs.) Risikat Ajoke Adegeye of blessed memory, the good people of Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, executives and members of Labour Party.
“It is important for parents to leave behind an enduring legacy for the benefits of their children and generations unborn. I have enjoyed my beloved Mother’s legacies in the course of this election.
“The victorious judgment of the Court of Appeal has further strengthened my resolve to deliver on my campaign promises. The people will enjoy quality representation at the Federal Parliament.
“Being magnanimous in victory I extend olive branch to the appellants and urge them to join me in this assignment of repositioning Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency to greater heights. Litigations are over and it’s now time for this business of governance.”
