Asserting that Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu was the victor of the March 18 governorship election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State claims it has decided to appeal the Appeal Court’s decision.
This was revealed in a Monday interview in Lagos with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) by Alhaji Hakeem Amode, the publicity secretary for the Lagos State PDP.
NAN reminds us that the party had already declared that, prior to taking any additional action, it will examine the Appellate Court’s decision.
He stated that the PDP’s nominee for governor, Dr. Olajide Adediran (Jandor), had filed petitions against Sanwo-Olu’s reelection, but that justice had not been done in these cases.
In our appeal, we maintain Sanwo-Olu’s victory before the Supreme Court, despite the Appeal Court’s decision. Our cases will be heard by the Supreme Court in a few days, stated Amode.
Saying that Adediran’s case lacked validity, he accused the justices of the Court of Appeal of betraying the party.
“The Appeal Court has taken a very inconsistent stance on pre-election issues, as evidenced by some of its decisions.
Our party believes that justice has not yet been done in regards to the petitions we filed challenging the results of this state’s March 18 governor’s race.
We firmly believe that the Supreme Court will consider the essential facts of the case and issue a decision that will set precedent.
After reviewing the decision made by the Appeal Court on November 15, Amode stated, “The party and our candidate are not deterred; we have decided to pursue justice at the Supreme Court.”
On November 15, the Court of Appeal in Lagos rejected arguments put out by Adediran of the PDP and Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Viviour, the candidate for the Labour Party, challenging the election tribunal’s ruling.
Adediran’s 34 grounds of appeal against Sanwo-Olu’s victory were rejected by the appellate court.
The court decided that it could not pursue legal action on the claimed disqualification of Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, as it was a pre-election affair.
It concluded that Sanwo-Olu’s alleged certificate forgery from the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) was not supported by the appellants’ evidence.
The appeal against Sanwo-Olu’s success filed by Adediran and Rhodes-Viviour was earlier denied by the tribunal on September 25.
Within 14 days of the ruling, an appeal must be filed with the Supreme Court, which then has 60 days to consider the case and issue a decision.
