The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ikeja
\non Wednesday struck out the petition filed by Mr Jimi Agbaje of PDP
\nagainst Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and All Progressives Congress
\n(APC).<\/p>\n
The three-member tribunal, chaired by Justice Muhammad Sirajo, upheld the
\nsubmission of Ambode and APC that the petition was incompetent.<\/p>\n
Sirajo said: \u201cIn the instant petition, apart from an order nullifying the
\nelection of the second respondent, the petitioners did not ask for an
\norder of fresh election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere such a prayer is lacking, the petition will be incompetent and
\nacademic as even the resolution of such a petition will be incompetent and
\nacademic.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the resolution of such a petition in favour of the petitioner will
\nnot confer any utilitarian value on the petitioner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere no relief for fresh election is claimed in a petition, a ground
\nfounded on Section 138(1)(b) of the Electoral Act and the entire petition
\nitself are incompetent and liable to be struck out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if for instance, the election is nullified, the people of Lagos State
\nwould be left in an anarchic situation as no order can validly be made for
\nthe conduct of a fresh election, same having been sought for.<\/p>\n
\u201cA petition that is founded on disqualification of a respondent and an
\norder of nullification of the election must, of necessity, contain a
\nprayer for an order of fresh election. \u201cit is for this reason that the
\ngrounds of the petition that survived up till this point can no longer be
\ncountenanced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the circumstance, paragraph 13(b) and 19(8) of the petition and
\nreliefs 19(5) and 19(8) are hereby struck out in view of the want of the
\nreliefs seeking the conduct of fresh election.\u201d Agbaje had petitioned the
\ntribunal challenging the outcome of the April 11 governorship election in
\nthe state which Ambode won.<\/p>\n
Agbaje alleged some irregularities in the election which breached the
\nprovisions of INEC guidelines for the polls.<\/p>\n
The other respondents in the suit were INEC and Lagos State resident
\nelectoral commissioner.<\/p>\n
Ambode\u2019s counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), had argued that the
\npetition should be struck out for being incompetent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no correlation between the reliefs being sought and the
\nparticulars on one hand and the grounds for questioning the election on
\nthe other hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grounds and particulars in the petition are at opposites with the
\nfacts and reliefs being sought within the purview of Section 285(2) of the
\n1999 Constitution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI urge my lordships to dismiss the petition,\u201d Olanipekun said.
\nHe said the petitioners neither attacked the victory of the respondents
\nnor question the conduct of the election and as such \u201cthere is no petition
\nbefore your lordships known to law.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Counsel to Agbaje, Mr Clement Onwuenwunor, had maintained that the
\npetition was competent and the issues for determination by the tribunal
\ncarefully spelt out. \u201cParagraph 13(a) and (b) of our petition questioned
\nthe election in Lagos State on the grounds of non-compliance with the
\nElectoral Act and irregularities, such as in the use of the card readers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have looked at their preliminary objections in this case and have
\nconcluded that they are objections made on mere technicalities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lagos State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ikeja on Wednesday struck out the petition filed by Mr Jimi Agbaje of PDP against Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n