Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on November 15 dismissed issues raised by the PDP’s candidate and his Labour Party counterpart, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Viviour, against the ruling of the election petition tribunal in the state.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Lagos State governorship candidate in the March 18 governorship election, Olajide Adediran, more commonly called Jandor, have vowed to challenge the Court of Appeal ruling affirming Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State PDP Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Hakeem Amode, disclosed this in an interview in Lagos on Monday, saying the party was heading to the Supreme Court.
Following the Appeal Court’s affirmation of Sanwo-Olu’s election, the PDP and its governorship candidate had earlier said that it would review the verdict of the Appellate Court before taking further action on the matter.
The publicity secretary, Amode said that justice has not been properly served in the party’s governorship candidate’s petitions against Governor Sanwo-Olu’s re-election.
He said, “We are challenging the ruling of the Appeal Court, affirming Sanwo-Olu as winner at the Supreme Court. In a couple of days, our petitions will get to the Supreme Court.”
Recall that the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on November 15 dismissed issues raised by the PDP’s candidate and his Labour Party counterpart, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Viviour, against the ruling of the election petition tribunal in the state.
The appellate court dismissed Adediran’s 34 grounds of appeal against Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
The court ruled that on the alleged non-qualification of Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, it could not litigate on the issue because it was a pre-election matter.
The court further held that the appellants failed to prove the allegation that Sanwo-Olu forged his West African Examination Council (WAEC) certificate.
This is as the election petition tribunal had on September 25 dismissed Adediran and Rhodes-Viviour’s petition against Sanwo-Olu’s election in the election.
But Amode said that justices of the Court of Appeal had failed the party by not seeing the merit in Adediran’s petition.
Amode noted that “Looking at some of the Appeal Court’s rulings, there has been so many inconsistencies on its stands on pre-election matters.
“We, as a party, feel justice is yet to be served in our petitions against the outcome of the March 18 gubernatorial election in this state.
“We have a strong belief in the Supreme Court to look at the crux of the matter and make a statement that will serve as precedent.
“The party and our candidate are not deterred; we have reviewed the November 15 Appeal Court’s ruling and decided to pursue justice at the Supreme Court.”